You know that scene in Amelie, where she finds the cigar box full of the young boy’s treasures? That happened to me today. While cleaning my desk, I discovered a box of knitting supplies that a customer had given me several months ago as a donation to the Guild. If I recall correctly, they had belonged to a relative who had passed away, and no one else in the family wanted them. I forgot about them til today. I couldn’t believe my eyes when I opened it up. I’ve put the photos up on Flickr.
Tag: knitting
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Bag Lady Swap!
Over on Ravelry, we’re coming to the end of our second “swap” in the Australian Knitters group. This time the theme was knitted/crocheted bags. Each person had to construct a bag for their recipient, and then ($30 budget permitting) send along some extra treats with it. My package was delivered to the shop yesterday, and my swapper was the awesome Tricia (who’s now travelling in the Middle East).
Check it out! The bag is crocheted out of thick black wool and features a silky red lining with two snaps to keep it closed. It’s the perfect size to carry around a sock knitting project. Tricia also sent me two awesomely daggy 80’s Australian picture knitting books. (I didn’t know Liz Gemmell wrote one of those!) Not pictured is a bar of chocolate, which is currently chilling in my fridge. And that flowery black thing? Is a HOMEMADE VINTAGE APRON. I couldn’t believe it! Tricia made it herself (with some assistance from her Mum). The arms crossover in the back (behind my head), and it’s got two handy pockets on front. That means I now have THREE retro aprons… which I suppose officially equals a collection! Thanks again, Tricia. 🙂
As for my own swap package, it’s 90% ready to be sent. I just ran out of stupid polyfill tonight so I’ve got to get some more tomorrow to finish something off…
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Wacky Knitting Links
I’ve been stumbling across some wacky knitting-related links lately. First, Rob over at cockeyed has been magnifying knitting wool with this funny magnifying thing he got at a toy store. There’s a closeup view of some Noro in there! The second fun thing is this Design Exhibit in Norway, which features (down at the very bottom of the page) a knitting machine built into a hanging lamp, so when it’s switched on, it knits its own lampshade. Very neat.
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Luminare Socks
Oh neat! Bex designed a sock pattern for The Knittery, and it’s now available for download on their site for free! Well done, Bex. 🙂
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HIGHLY COMMENDED!
Holy crap! Some of the girls over on Ravelry went to the Easter Show’s “Arts Preview Night” tonight, and they reported back that my Road to Golden won a Highly Commended Award! That’s so awesome! My first official knitting ribbon. Of course, now I can’t sniff that my work is unappreciated in its own time. It’s a trade-off.
Update: The awesome Ailsa took lots of photos, and there are a couple of Road to Golden in there. [1, 2] I’m stoked that it got displayed on a mannequin instead of being stretched all to hell on fishing line. But this is weird: is my jumper holding hands with the one next to it??
Update later: The official results are now up!
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Road to Golden
This past Saturday, the Snook and I drove out to Homebush to drop off my entry for the 2008 Royal Easter Show. I knitted “Road to Golden” from the Fall 2007 Knitscene. It’s a modern fairisle jumper knitted on circular needles. I substituted Filatura di Crosa Zara for the yarn and had some fun playing around with colours. I’m still not entirely happy with the way the neckline turned out, but I figured I can always pull it apart after the Show. Now I’m just waiting for the results to come in… (More project details are over on Ravelry.)
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Marianne’s Cardigan
Oh, wow! Two years ago, I knitted a hooded cardigan for my friends’ daughter Marianne. I knew it was going to be a bit big for her at the time, but I figured she’d grow into it. And guess what? She finally has! It looks great on her, and I’m glad she likes it so much. Thanks to Staci for the update… 🙂
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Spring Knitty
The new Spring Knitty is up… but I’m not a huge fan of the patterns. In fact, the one I like the best is the most ridiculous and impractical: the Mosey legwarmers. They just seem like something I’d see on a super-cool 16-year-old Japanese girl, and as you all know, I secretly long to be a super-cool 16-year-old Japanese girl.
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Knitting a Country
Even if you’re not a knitter, I really recommend this week’s Sticks and String podcast. David’s essay about last week’s apology by the Australian government was one of the best bits of writing I’ve heard about it, and it’s a good explanation of what it was all about (for those from other countries).
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DB Book SCORE!
I’m almost embarrassed to post this, but I just picked up a copy of Debbie Bliss’s The Baby Knits Book at Borders in the city for $3.95. Some, uh, knitting stores sell it for a lot more. Like, $80 more. Ahem. Anyway, all the copies they had on the shelf are now gone (sorry!), but you might get lucky at one of their other locations…
Update! I’ve just been told that they have more stock at the Bondi and Macquarie locations.
