harriet and angelica

 

peek a boo ...

 

we see you !!



storm bird skies

just as i got started dyeing yesterday it started to bucket down rain so only 2 new hanks were dyed

 

the new colourway storm birds is already dry, kind of looks like the skies round here. it's still grey and raining this morning and probably will be for another day (if you believe the weaher forecasts)

 

i'm still waiting on the other hank to dry completely before pics. its sort of a mauve purple, pinks and browns overlayed. very pretty and girly :)

 

 

storm birds has layers of navy, gun metal blue, silver greys and blacks. 4ply or sock weight, 400 meters and 110 grams.

 



an ode to rebel

things have been a little neglected around these parts lately ....ooops.

between a head cold that dragged on for days and days (and days) and now a bit of a tonsil thing that's got me feeling under the weather it's all just a bit of slow going at rosieok.

 

on a lighter note though i've been planning on a new camera for months and finally bit the bullet on saturday night and forked over the cash (online at harvey norman) to get my new baby delivered to me on monday !! seriously fast service which was great.

 

she's a canon eos 1100d dslr, also known as a rebel t3. rebel sounds so much nicer so i think that from now on she'll be refered to as rebel and i love her so.

 

not to gush too much but she's fab.

 

 

look she has depth of field !!

 

indoors at night under flourescent light the colours are true !! no flash, no studio lights to set up, just perfect colours :)

 

the scarf from last post and i had a disagreement about halfway through so i frogged the poor thing and decided to make some teeny weeny little socks full of woolly, colourful, glittery, soft goodness. no this isn't a hint i just figured a little pair of socks was more likely to get finished these days than a full sized adult pair.

 

on some more exciting news new mill spun yarn has arrived so i've been dyeing again. this time 4ply (sock weight) BFL- blue faced leicester wool in superwash at 400 meters to 100 grams.

 

next week i'll have some baby alpaca in 8ply (DK weight), some organic merino in 2/4ply(sport weight), and baby alpaca/silk in 2ply(lace weight) to dye.

 

i'm loving the above yarn in shades of browns, chestnuts, burgundy and grey/blacks i'm fightling with myself not to keep it.

 

a little handy

you'd think knitting would be a quiet relaxing past time but apparently not when i do it. i've been told i'm a clicker, yep a clicker. somehow i manage to make a lot of noise using metal needles, i even get dirty looks over it from mum LOL

 

so i decided new year, new tools needed. the bamboo needles arrived (2 full sets of regular straights in 2 different lengths, 1 full set circulars and 1 full set dpn's) i've gotta say the money was worth it !! the knit like a dream, no matter how hard i try not clicking or clacking. an added bonus my stitches don't slide off the dpn' either.

 

 

yesterday's spinning consisted of loads of white merino, random coloured merinos, silk noil, sari silk, grey leicester, loads of angelina sparkle & coloured firestar all thrown into my little ashford wild carder. i made 3 little batts in total around 80 grams or just under 3 ounces.

spun fine and then plied back on itself giving a little over 200 meters or 220 yards.

i decided it was too pretty and soft to go into the shop (a completely valid excuse !!) so i wound it into a ball to make a scarf.

cast onto 5mm needles for a soft drape, 25 sts in moss stitch just perfect to show off the texture. 

a little close up, sadly you can't see the sparkle and shine but i'll get some better pics of this next update.

cast on tail with silk noil.

i think i'll have to spin another skein to make this a decent length for double wrapping and snuggling but we'll see.

new handspun yarns

after dyeing kilos of both the regular merino wool and the superwash wool i decided i should finally get around to spinning some of it. the wet weekend here in Oz was the perfect chance to get arm loads of yarn spun.

 

violet shock

the red menace

uni-cornucopia

the last of the old rainbow candy cane dye batch

but new candy canes are coming soon

some strawberry sparkle -mega loads of sparkly angelina

some mega bulky thick and thins -iris eyes

 

there's been a huge update in the shop with more to come today and tomorrow. and i've barely put a dent in the stash so more yarns coming next week.

 

 

 

what do you get when ....

what do you get when you cross one of these jingly rattles

 

 

and one of these rainbow rabbits

 

you get one of these new roly poly rabbit rattles !!

 

sudsy fun

 

ground oatmeal glycerine

 

 

 

ok so when i said i'd been MIA before here's the explaination -i've been starting up a new biz newly named the tattered owl. it's a collaboration with my mum (YAY for mums)

why the owls you ask ?? well it's a family thing. mum inherited her mum's owl collecition, now the owls have multiplied and are taking over so we decided owls were a sweet family tradition to add to the biz.

 

it's been a steep (and quick) learning curve since we decided to start the business and then had to invest the cash and learn to make everything after LOL

 

 

rose geranium

sweet chamomile

oolong choc chai tea

jingle all the way

 

 

 

well i've been MIA again but some exciting things have been happening here (more on that later)

 

at the moment christmas orders are underway and it feels like i'm buried up to my ears in jingly baby rattles.

 

 

 

 

born to knit.... ok maybe crochet.

this years born to knit campaign is already underway with over 1200 blankets counted.

i finished some more spinning and dyeing during the week (and pulled some extra yarns from my handspun stash) and got to work.

it looked pretty but the knitting part was driving me crazy. i just couldn't get into it and it felt like pulling teeth so i swapped over to crochet and almost had the whole blanket finished in one day !!

and man this blankie will be toasty to snuggle under. it's my usual super soft merino wool there are some thick and thins, some carded with sparklies and a few 2 ply candy canes. not just toasty warm but super colourful too LOL

in other shop related stuff there were a few dollies made and a new design. this time little trudy had socks under her mary janes.

trudy also wears a lilac bow in some new saddle stitch ribbons. my ribbon box is about ready to explode so more new ribbons arriving this week mean i better start looking for a bigger box !

and those teeny weeny buttons made another appearance.

bronte's little outfit was made from some new yarns that arrive -sirdar snuggly DK.

her top has a tiny speckle of colour that's hard to see in the pics.

and what outfit is complete without the accessories. little bronte has her handbag in coordinating greens. yes it's removable and the little flap opens so a small treasure can be hidden inside :)

little maxwell is sporting a new 3 stripe sweater designand he's posing in front of a new background -stamped to match my new business cards and swing tags.

summer treat

the first skein is finally dry and here are the results

for those of you interested in the specs:

-18.2 micron fine australian merino handspun slightly thick and thin. super soft against the skin.

- about the edquivalent of a DK or a slightly fine 8ply yarn.

-jaquard acid dyes used: kelly green, chartreuse, salmon, bright yellow, with a touch of fuschia pink and turquoise blue.

 

the original inspiration from design-seeds

 

 

 

to dye or not to dye

i've been in a bit of a colour rut lately when i comes to dyeing my handspun yarns. i don't know how many times i think of a great colour combo and then forget it by the time i get to the dye pot.

i seriously have a full set (40 dyes as a very early christmas pressie last year !!) in the jaquard acid dye range. i still dye about the same 6 colours over and over. and i always end up with about half of it being christmas green -my least favourite colour.

so when i came across the design seeds site i fell in love. all these great colour palettes right there to use as a jumping off point :)

so i have a project in mind and started some singles spun last night and the first up for the dye pot is summer brights -love those minty/aqua greens.

let the light shine

it was a pretty uneventful week and the weather was kinda miserable here. rainy, windy and cold.
the weather has made it soooo frustrating trying to get decent pics that i finally decided i had to bite the bullet and get some studio lights.

well the finally arrive and turned out to be money very well spent !! i'm still working out how to use them to get the best effect but i'm loving them.

there were some new rainbow toys in the works.

and i managed to get some sewing done, nothing too exciting just more bags to pack my dollies in when they go in the post on their way to their new homes.

my pin cushion (well one of them) was formerly a prototype for a small octopus. since sewing pieces together is my least fav part of making amigurumi i decided having to sew 8 legs to anything would make me cry so these guys never made it into the store.

the old and the new

i've been spending some time working on new designs and playing around with some old ones.



little poppy on the left is the newer version of my foxy gals. funny how leaving off something as simple as the eye circles changes their faces completely.  i'm liking the simpler version so there are a few more in the works.

little alicia can be found here

and little poppy here

and i found a cute little silver bunny so i could resist using him as a prop just for fun :)