Be Kind. It’s My First Handspun.
Hope showed me to spin last month and was kind enough to send me home with her Ashford spinning wheel and more fibre. Yesterday, a few of us met at her place for the Central Coast Knit & Crochet {Ravelry} group meet-up and Hope showed me to ply my singles together. I was extremely blessed with many kind words of praise about how my first singles turned out. Don’t we all need a good pat on the back sometimes to tell us we’re going alright? Thank you ladies! 
When my head eventually shrunk back to a manageable size, I spent a few hours plying to create my very first handspun yarn!
Please be kind. It is my first time spinning and plying my own yarn. Can you tell that I am very proud of it? I can’t believe that it started out as fluffy wool from a sheep to this yarn I can knit with! Too cool!
I still have more roving to play with and Hope lent me more of her spinning tools so I can ply the singles together myself. Vivian showed me to skein the yarn on Hope’s niddy-noddy too (which I borrowed). I’m so glad someone can show me how to do these things. What would I do without you girls! Thank you!
I’ve wrapped the yarn around my new Ashford yarn gauge (another gift from Hope! God, I’m spoilt!) and I got 12 wraps per inch. The tag says that my handspun yarn is a sportweight. I’m not sure how much yarn I will have in the end so I really don’t know what I can knit it into. I think I’ll have enough yarn for a scarf or shawl. Whatever it is, I think my first handspun yarn should be turned into something really special.
What did you make with your first handspun yarn?
By the way, Shannon of www.musingsofafatchick.blogspot.com is offering a WEBS Ball Winder & Swift Combo as a prize. The contest runs through next Friday, April 3rd. Head over for your chance to win (after you’ve left a comment here first!).
**Update 2 April 2009: Hope blogged about our meetup too and included pictures of Vivian and I spinning. 
I especially like the title of the blog post – K5tog. Isn’t she clever! **
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Learning to Spin
A Sweet Visit
Buzzzzz…
Someone’s at the oven door. Hmm… I wonder who it might be this Sunday afternoon.
Me: Oh hello! My, don’t you look lovely. What’s your name?
Cake: Why, thank you. I’m Miss Berry & Vanilla Cake.
Me: Nice to meet you. Come on in!
Me: I love all those berries peaking through your top.
Cake: They’re frozen mixed berries. Just as good as the fresh ones, you know.
Me: Ah… They sure look good!
Cake: Go on. Have a slice.
Me: Don’t mind if I do. Do you mind if my husband and father-in-law have a slice too?
Cake: Sure, there’s plenty of me to go around!
Me: Oh! You’re such a tart!
Cake: No, I’m not. I’m 100% cake.
Me: Mmm… So light and moist. Everyone’s noticing how different you are. What’s your secret?
Cake: I’m butter-less. I much prefer olive oil, the lighter the better.
Me: Delicious!
Cake: Well, I better get going.
Me: Aww… so soon? You’re welcome here any time! It’s been such a pleasure.
Cake: Likewise! I’ll come by again when I can. Take care!
Me: You too!
Blueberry and Vanilla Cake Recipe from Taste.com.au
{ 8 comments }Sydney Olympic Park
… Continued from Hexagons on the Move
RINGS was my clue to where we went last Saturday. If you guessed Sydney Olympic Park, well, you’re a freaking genius!
We went to the Bicentennial Park for a quick lunch, not really a picnic. We had places to go and things to do. So we quickly left and went to our first pit stop.
Tada! It’s the award-winning Brickpit Ring Walk. It is the 2006 National Trust Heritage Awards Winner. I’ve not even heard of this place before but it was pretty cool. I think this homemade video best captures the size of the ring in the middle of this old brickpit. Don’t you just love the colours!
It was a bizarre feeling walking on it. It was just the two of us in this big weird suspended ring. And to add to the strangeness, Richard actually got the camera off me! (I’m a little possessive of it.) And you can see why I don’t normally hand the camera over. He would want to take photos of me! I had to oblige those mesmerizing blue eyes though. I was having a wonderful day so smiling was pretty easy.
In all fairness, he agreed to take a rare photo of us together. I LOVE this photo. Don’t we look good?! 
Gee, I’m such a lucky girl.
We were off to the next pit stop in the “larger than I thought” Sydney Olympic Park. Drove to the next location, parked and walked for a while to get to the… SHIPWRECK! Yip, real shipwrecks in the water with the fancy condos in one background and the Ikea mall in the other. Surreal!
Although we were already rather tired from walking in the warm weather, we had one last place to visit. Another short drive and we were at the Newington Armory. Did anyone know there was an armory in the Sydney Olympic Park? Anyone? Richard was keen to see the heritage buildings and at first I thought it was going to be pretty boring. But I was blown away by how well preserved everything was and the armory was bigger than I thought! We walked and walked and there seem to be no end. There were so many bunkers, train tracks, old buildings and old signs. Again, there was barely anyone around. It’s like we were stuck in some Dr Who episode where everyone disappeared!
But that’s not all folks! We finally walked back to the entrance and saw people walking into this big old building. Thought we should check it out. You wouldn’t believe it. It was an art gallery! This place just keeps on giving. The ARTEXPRESS exhibition was on and it was awesome to be able to wander into an old army building and find artwork from young budding art students. A symphony of young and old I think.
Among the exhibition, I did find a couple of artworks that would interest the yarn and craft lovers.
“My Body of Work” by Indigo Hanlee, Sydney Girls High School
(Hand embroidery on organza)
“Pig Passes to Paradise” by Danielle Klusek, Strathfield South High School
(Yarn wrapped around a pig)
I hope you have enjoyed my Saturday outing to the Sydney Olympic Park. If you have a chance, please do visit it for yourself. I can’t wait to go back there again and see what else I will discover. Enjoy the rest of the week and I’ll see you again on Friday.
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Hexagons on the Move
Hexagons on the Move
We went on a small road trip last Saturday. I was going to spend about 3 hours in the car all up so I thought I shouldn’t miss the chance to do a bit of crocheting while being chauffeured for the day. I packed my backpack full of yarn – 700g of yarn to be exact. Seven beautiful bright colours adorn my hexagon crochet blanket. I’ve crocheted and joined 16 hexagons and packed them with me. All I needed was my hook and a small pair of scissors and I’m off!
Richard was looking at my bag when I got in the car. He had already packed a picnic for us and we were planning a walk too. He was rather surprised to see my bulging backpack! “What have you got in there?” he asked inquisitively. I grinned and told him to just drive. As soon we hit the freeway, I unzipped my bag and pulled out the ends of the yarn carefully. I began my first hexagon, proud at how organised I was.
I even had a little “bin” next to me by the passenger door where I tucked the scrap bits of yarn and my pair of scissors.
And between our seats, I placed the 16 joined hexagons so I can refer to them when I’m crocheting. I’ve decided on these 16 to be the foundation of my crochet blanket that I will just follow from now on.
I’ve placed a safety pin in the centre of each of these “foundation” hexagons so that I will not be confused when I start joining other hexagons to them. Is there a smarter way to do this? I really don’t know much about crocheting. I don’t know the proper name of the so-called foundation hexagons that I’ve crocheted. Please enlighten me if you do!
I’ll talk more about where I actually went last Saturday later this week. All I can say now is that it involved RINGS. 
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What Have I Started?
What Have I Started?
I learned to crochet last year simply because I wanted to crochet amigurumi and a blanket. I have made several amigurumi but no blankets yet. Not even a small a lap sized one. I started a ripple blanket but it was quickly abandoned. I didn’t like how it was turning out and I wasn’t sure whether I had enough yarn to finish it.
But with the recent acquisition of yarn, I can now realise my dream of a crochet blanket! As excited as I am, there are a few things I worry about with this new project. Firstly, the colours are bright! It’s very different to my otherwise muted style. I’m not sure whether it will go with the white colour palette that I plan for the house. But the emotions I get when I look at the pretty hexagons is driving me on. They just make me so happy! I catch myself smiling at the hexagons that lay in front of me. Haha… Thank god I’m home alone.
Secondly, it’s a blanket. Come on. With my short attention span, who am I kidding? It’s going to be a challenge to finish it. I think the hexagons will make it easier though. My goal is even if I just crochet ONE hexagon every few days, I should be happy with myself. It hasn’t been a problem so far. Look what I’ve done after two days. I’m hooked! (pun intended)
My last concern is that the blanket is being crocheted with acrylic yarn. It’s not even a soft acrylic yarn but at least it isn’t itchy. I’m reminding myself that without Rosemary’s generosity, I wouldn’t even have the chance to do much knitting and crocheting in my current employment status. I’ll always have a chance to make another blanket with the yarn of my choice in the future. It’s pretty hard to focus on the negative with these colours staring back at me!
When I showed Richard the first few hexagons, he said, “Oh my god! What have you started? Don’t you spend every waking moment working on that!” Haha… I’ll try not to, love. I’ll try.
Hexagon Blanket (Free Pattern) by Attic24
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