How complicated can Kitchener be?

A frosty start to the week. The lawn was white this morning, but with the sun streaming in, my house warms up nicely. Sat outside on the patio and grafted the two halves of a knitted bag together using Kitchener stitch. Thanks to Knitting at Knoon for the video instructions. Much easier to follow than the diagrams in my book. It took a while to get it to look right, but it doesn't matter that it is not a perfect graft. Hopefully once felted, the join will not be too visible - and if it is, I'll embroider over it and make it a design feature.

I had to pull the apple bag apart as it was just too big. It has been through a hot wash several times and the body of the bag has not felted yet, so I'm going to try giving the wool a good shock - don't you love that technical term - by plunging it into cold water after a rugged pummelling in really hot water. Check back in a few days to see if it works.

The chooks are out free ranging while I'm around to keep an eye on them. They both prefer to find a dark corner of the garden to lay, rather than using the straw in their house. I quite like collecting eggs from the garden, like the Easter Bunny thing.

Lounging by the fire

I love that the days are getting longer again. Not much going on - lounging around by the fire in my new slippers. Yes, they are odd. But they are equally warm.

Zippy's slippers

It was Knit in Public Day last week. I did my bit by starting the second slipper at Zippy's. No, my old-lady-knitting presence didn't result in empying out Zippy's. The cafe was full at the time, I have just used one of my old photos to show you the Zippy's style. I have been wearing the one finished slipper while working on the second. Well, I wasn't wearing it when I was having coffee. Then again, would the clientele have noticed? Probably not.

I'm using Nola's slipper pattern which is a freebie from a charity that encourages volunteers to knit for mariners. What a quaint thng to do! If you did have the urge, can I suggest you donate your finished knits to the Lakeside Chookwatch Lady, C/- 9 Cooper Ave. A hat would come in handy on a frosty morning like today.

In praise of the chooks!

Both hens are laying, and I'm so excited. To celebrate I made a coffee cake. Don't you just love the eggs? Madge lays the delicate green ones, and the lovely brown one is Edna's first egg. Cake is not bad, as you can tell.

Silks in Hoi An

Another collage. It seems more economical to post pictures this way, but even I think I have been overdoing it lately. Well, one more - this time showing the gorgeous silks of Hoi An in central Vietnam. I'd love to have brought back some lanterns.

Simple pleasures

Making bread for lunch, waiting for the broccolini and silverbeet to grow...

Yarn to dye (four)

 

I have started to make myself a stripey cardigan based around a skein of hand-dyed wool that I bought at Creative Outlets in Tauranga a year or so ago. The skein is not going to be enough, so I popped over the shop last week and bought some boucle from the bargain bin, dyed in pale pinks and yellows. Into the sink with it. Then spread onto gladwrap and out with the drinking straws which served nicely to drip wine and black dye at random. A zap in the microwave...

Well, after drying it turned out the colour wasn't quite right, so back into a another dye bath with a purple. Too much! Rinsed most out before another bit of zapping to set the colour.  The final result is close enough, is what I'm hoping. Some stripes here and there, and it should meld in nicely with the other yarns.