Sunday 2 August 2015

I'm back!

It's been a while since I blogged last but I'm feeling in the mood to start it up again! How are you? It's been busy around here. It's the summer holidays and my mum came to visit me for 2 weeks. We had a fantastic time in Jakarta, doing some touristy things such as going to the Jakarta National Museum and Taman Safari Park. We had a wonderful time in Bali also and visited an Elephant Safari Park. My mum's favourite animals are elephants so this really made her trip. We rode an elephant and got to feed them too. All the elephants have been rescued and according to our mahout (who was from Sumatra and witnessed how elephants are used for logging etc) the elephants are much happier here and far better cared for than in their previous homes.

After she had gone I had a week at home to do nothing but knit, spin and a little crochet (more on that later though...). This was followed by a relaxing and revitalising week in Bali with my husband. After I got back from Bali I completed a 2 day chocolatier course! I can't tell you how fantastic this was. It was extremely tiring as I learnt so many new things and worked hard to make the chocolates but it was an experience I'm unlikely to forget! Hopefully you don't mind me not going into too much detail...we'd be here for a while if I did!

WIPS:
My main project is my second Custom Fit cardigan. The yarn is from Life in the Long Grass in the colour way Splash in their gorgeous silk/merino blend.  You should absolutely check out their colour ways! So far I've completed the back and the sleeves. I'm about 1/3 - 1/2 way through the cardigan fronts and knitting these 2 at a time.


My next WIP is a sock yarn scrap blanket! Never before have I felt the urge to knit one of these things. My view was that they'd take waaay too long and be a great deal of hassle. However I've been seeing a few on the podcasts I watch and felt inspired. Blankets made of squares just weren't doing it for me though so I cast on the Beryl Blanket. These little hexagons are a bunch of fun to knit although somewhat fiddly. I'm not going to list all of the yarns I've used unless you're really interested.


FOs:

Since the Never Ending Cardigan I'm not sure I've actually finished any knitting...I took a break from it for a while as I wasn't feeling the love but the holidays have given me the boost I needed to pick my needles up again. Spinning took a hit for a while too but during the TdF I was determined to get a longstanding WIP finished.

This project was started in February of last year...it wasn't the easiest of spins which is probably why it hibernated for a while. With some determination (that lead to sore hands) I finished spinning and plied it up before my husband and I went to Bali. I got about 499 metres of a 2 ply. It's stunning and I'm very much looking forward to knitting it up! The fibre was from Ixchel Bunny and is the Magic Bunny Top. It's a blend of 60% merino, 25% firestar, 10% cashmere and 5% angora. It's not the softest yarn ever, which I attribute to the firestar, but it's fine for next to skin wear.



As I mentioned above I've been teaching myself to crochet. My efforts have not culminated in a great deal yet so I won't post pictures yet. My brother and his partner are expecting a baby this month and I've started crocheting them the Classic Baby Blanket. I'm using some King Cole Merino Blend in the Kingfisher colourway. So far it seems to be coming out OK but I'm not holding my breath!

I hope you've had a good few months and will check in here. I love to read any comments you have to share so if you have anything to say, please do!

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