Yesterday was World Wide Knit in Public Day. It was also the day I rostered myself on the Guild stand at the Craft and Quilt Fair. Both were at Darling Harbour, so I spent the whole day there, immersed in crafty goodness.
The morning passed in a flash. I sat and spun at the Guild stand for more than four hours with few breaks as I hardly noticed the time. I spent about half that time spinning singles of the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo roving and about half plying a full bobbin of two ply. Most of the usual interest and questions from people who came by. A number of Ravelers happened to come by and I got to put some names to faces. As I wanted to finish plying the full bobbin and not stop part way, it was after 1.30pm before I packed up my spinning wheel. I did a quick whip around a few stalls I wanted to visit, and bought some Habu silk wrapped stainless steel. I can't wait to knit that in front of some muggles!
It was hard work getting out of the Craft Fair and over to WWKIP day at the Bayside Lounge carrying a backpack, bag and my spinning wheel. I was late to the Bayside Lounge, arriving at something like 2.15pm - long after the problem of 50+ knitters and only 25 chairs had been sorted (they were told to expect 75 people - clearly knitting skeptics...). I was shocked that I was 71st to arrive! The total tally was 80 knitters. There were knitters inside:
And knitters outside:
I wound the yarn off the bobbin onto my niddy noddy, counted it for length then put it away. My fingertips were cold and numb from plying for so long in a cold down draft from the ventilation system in the exhibition hall, so I didn't want to do any more spinning. I wanted to knit but I was so tired and spent so much time talking (Yeah, surprising. Not.) that I barely knit a thing: maybe three rounds on my sock? Shortly after the prizes were drawn, I packed up and made my way home, completely exhausted.
This morning I have had out my sewing machine. I turned one of the two WWKIP day bags I bought into a drawstring project bag big enough for a large project. I've been using other bags borrowed from other purposes, and I much prefer a drawstring bag to keep everything for a project together. While I had the machine out, I made a second bag from the last of the Knitting Chickens fabric I bought a couple years back (I wish now that I'd got some of the accompanying fabric with the actual Knitting Chickens on it). So all my WIPs now have their own drawstring bag and some other bags have gone back to their original purpose.
While the camera was out, I photographed all the WIPs. There are Noro socks I shouldn't be knitting since the River Rapid sock still remains without a partner. I hate the colour and the yarn, but it is doing the Noro thing I so like with the stripes. I'm mid-turning-the-heel already.
A Revontuli shawl in the alpaca/merino handspun:
And the much neglected cardigan, even though I'd love to be wearing it right now:
And the English Leicester/Kid Mohair/Bamboo yarn is drying after setting the ply.
There's still more singles on the bobbins ready to ply, and a quarter of the rovings yet to be spun, so this skein is only about a quarter of the resulting yarn. The intention is that it will become an Ishbel, even though that pattern has gone viral. It's damn pretty.
Recently in Knitting in Public Category
Two posts on the same day! I wanted the Calvert stuff separate from the rest. There's been:
Work on a Pinwheel Cardigan for Charlotte. Now that I understand the geometry involved, I'm after a measurement of my dear niece to confirm it will actually fit her next Winter. I shall have to attack her with a tape measure on Christmas Day.
A crayon roll for a cute one year old. (I made three of these last Christmas for my three nieces - and forgot to photograph them...). And yes, I got into the spirit of the party.
Shedir, a chemo cap for a work colleague recently diagnosed with breast cancer.
A fun day out knitting in public at the Opera House, but I didn't take any photos of my own so you'll have to go here (I'm in the last photo). David interviewed me for his podcast.
And the yarn (Bendigo Rustic 8 ply) has been dyed for the Stained Glass Felted Bag. There are another two colours not in the photo - an apple green and a pink. The black was dyed with Landscape "Currawong" and the blue (front right) was dyed with Gaywool "Indigo", but the others are Queen Food Colouring. There is also another skein dyed with the "Indigo" that was way too dark. I might use it to knit a test felting swatch although I'm fairly sure this will felt the same way as Bendigo Colonial 8 ply - the only difference is the Colonial is crepe plied while Rustic is not.
Oh! And I nearly forgot. I bought a second spinning wheel. I haven't had time to play with it yet.
I succeeded in buying a new camera, so this post actually has pictures. The Flannel Flower Bag is now absolutely and completely finished with magnetic closures, but the photos were both out of focus, so I'll have to try again (I know how to change the settings to what I want now).
The shopping trip on Wednesday was also successful for book shopping (two japanese amigurumi books) and yarn (Ranco sock yarn).
As I travelled to the city by train, I spent some time working on the beaded rib socks. I'm so determined to get these out of the way as I have the Ranco I'd like to play with as well as a ball of Noro Kureyon Sock yarn I bought in a group purchase arriving this Tuesday.
I actually completed the first sock last night having worked on it at SSK yesterday afternoon. We met at a different cafe than usual as Barmuda was closed. I didn't like the cafe - it was way too noisy with 80's pop songs playing. Argh! It was a great turn out though. I'll put more pictures up in the Flickr pool.
Seeing as I suffered first sock syndrome on the beaded rib socks, I'm wondering if I'll really have the resolve to finish the second sock without casting on another sock....
I don't think I actually mentioned on here that my present job is a temporary contract that happens to end in four weeks time. It's part of why there's been a lot of unbloggable stuff going on of late. But much of the uncertainty is now over - I've accepted a permanent job at a new school, starting in January (as anyone who's seen me in person in the last week knows, has made me jump-up-and-down happy!). The new job isn't terribly far from the old one, so I get to stay put in my present home, and now can settle in and do a few things that had "but if"-s hanging over them.
On the knitting front, I have started knitting with the silk hankies yarn, but very soon after starting with it (I'll tell you what it's becoming in a future post) I became busy, then two weeks ago I found I wasn't seeing properly - I had scratched the cornea of my right eye (I think some grit got caught under my eyelid, but I thought it was bad hayfever) and came down with head cold (again) so seeing detail in anything became a real problem. Thankfully my vision is almost completely back to normal now. So for the last week I've concentrated my efforts on finishing the knitting on the Flannel Flower bag. It nearly looked like a bag at Rubi and Lana last weekend (I was knitting the strap), but by the time I went to SSK yesterday, I was up to the icord edging of the front flap with only weaving in ends to follow and I no longer needed to explain what the strange rectangular creation was exactly. I have no photos, but Mary-Helen took one that should be on the SSK blog sometime soon. I spent much more time talking than knitting, so nearly did as much on the bus trip home (which turned into a marathon since I managed to find myself on the only 288 bus that does not go all the way to Epping Station - It terminated at Macquarie Centre, adding 20 minutes and some inconvenience to my trip home) and I finished the weaving in ends last night so it is presently blocking. I was discussing the lining and how to perhaps add some thin wadding at SSK and Lyndell helpfully suggested using some felt between the bag and the fabric lining, which is what I may do. It definitely needs something or it is going to be very floppy! I also acquired an extra bamboo double pointed needle that isn't mine (2.5 mm Clover, I use Tulip), I think it might be Judy's?
Alas, it is exams his coming week and report writing next week before hitting the home straight to the end of the school year and start of the Summer break!
I was supposed to be at Port Stephens, but my plans changed earlier in the week when my parents caught one of the lurgies going around. So they're coughing and feeling miserable, and I don't want to catch it too. So that was the end of any idea of going away for the weekend. And just as well, because as things turned out, Sydney and parts of NSW have been affected by severe storms over the last 48 hours. Part of the Pacific Highway collapsed, and a ship has run aground at Newcastle. Not a good time to be on the roads. And Tocal, where the Back to Back Challenge was to be held tomorrow, is flooded, so the event has been cancelled.
So instead I was left with the opportunity to go to the Sydney WWKIP Day event at the Sydney Opera House. I took the bus into the city as I didn't want the stress of driving in the appalling road conditions, or the expense of parking in the City. Even though I missed a bus (by mere seconds), I made it in time to pop into Tapestry Craft for the sale and to Haighs Chocolates for a few treats. At the TC sale I picked up some double pointed needles in 1.5 mm and 1.0 mm to knit new linings for my leather gloves. Elaine gasped when she saw the size of them!
I caught a bus down to Circular Quay since the rain was pouring down, then walked to the Opera House. We were a big group despite the awful weather, and at our peak had 27 of us kip-ing away.
There was Kris, Mary-Helen, Sandra, David, Lara, Kate (and her son Lucas), Ervi, Madoka, Gemma, Catherine, Melinda, Helen, Helen (yes, two), Veronica, Charisse, Erin, Rachel, Rebecca, Merrin, Amy, Andrew, Judy, Michelle, Patricia, Yasinga, Elaine and myself. The weather alternated between okay and totally miserable. We could see groups of climbers up on the Harbour Bridge - I can only imagine that it would have been freezing to be exposed up there. Lots of photos were taken - including by passing tourists. Many stopped and looked at the sign we had put up, and a few asked questions and were keen to know of regular knitting groups. I was working on the second sleeve of the Alpaca Bolero and made a lot of progress between consuming coffee and cake and seeing what everyone else was working on. I think I've fallen in love with a Socks That Rock colourway that Charisse was using, and I was interested in the gloves Mary-Helen was working on, now I finally have the needles for my glove linings. There was a great diversity of projects in progress too.
I've put up an album of my photos on Flickr since I still haven't got my photo albums to work here.
I finally left about 5pm. There were still some hardy souls sticking around, but I was starting to get cold. My timing was good - there was break in the rain that lasted until I was nearly at my bus stop in Clarence Street. It poured with rain while I was on the bus, but again I scored a break for the walk from the highway bus stop to my home.
Update: I'm sorry if you keep getting this post come up in your feed aggregator, but I've been editing the post to add more links to people's blogs as I've become aware of them.
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