My Amanda cardigan

You guys I knitted a fisherman sweater!!!!

Last New Years Eve I resolved that if I really was going to call myself a knitter then I would have to knit a heavily cabled woman sized jumper before the year was out, and I totally have.

I think the idea originally got planted in my head last year when Karen Templer along with a panel of experts hosted an Amanda cardigan knit-a-long. Over the period of a few months my instagram feed was filled with Amandas in all stages from swatching all the way through to wearing and all hashtagged #fringeandfriendsknitalong.

I totally wanted to join in on the fisherman fun but the timing was wrong for me as I had just discovered socks. So I watched from the sidelines and fell deeper and deeper in love with the pattern as each pic and blog was posted.

Then in March, I decided it was time to make good on my New Years' resolution and when gorgeous  Kylie of TONOFWOOL offered to send me the wool, I knew my Amanda cardigan time had come. So I ordered the book the pattern  came from and once it arrived I wound the wool, set myself a first day of winter deadline and cast on.

And I knitted the back, the two front pieces, the sleeves and then I joined them together and knitted it into a cardigan.

It took a while to get the hang of the cables and I undid it and reknitted it quite a few times but eventually it clicked and then it actually was a really fun knit.

I even reached my June first - first day of winter deadline!

But then I stalled. After all those hours and stitches and cables and buttons I just couldn't bring myself to try it on. What if it didn't fit me? What if it was too tight on the boobs, or too short on my bum or too long in the arms? Eventually, after a few days of watching it out of the corner of my eye sitting all neatly folded up on the kitchen sideboard, I convinced myself that it really didn't matter.

If it was too small then maybe one of the girls could wear it. If it was too big then maybe I could wear it with extra layers underneath. And if it really didn't work for anyone at all - then it would make a very snugly blanket indeed. It was after all a great thing that I'd followed through and knitted it without distraction and I know that I wasn't really very careful with the measuring and swatching in the beginning and couldn't really blame anyone but myself.

But then last Friday night while rushing out for dinner, I grabbed it, chucked it on over the top of the dress I was wearing and it worked!! It fitted well!! It looked great and it is possibly the warmest piece of clothing I have ever owned.

So YAY!!!

You can find all of my Amanda details on Ravelry here.

And in the meantime TONOFWOOL have given me five small 25 gram samples of their incredibly soft and squishy 10ply Cormo for five of you to try out.

If you are interested in having a play with my new favourite wool and you live in Australia, please leave a comment below.

Now that that enormous project is done, I think I'm going to go and cast on something quick and easy.

And then I'm going to get my cardigan off Indi. And hide it.

Big love to you guys, I hope you've got something fun to look forward to.

xoxox

Craft report

And now for the crafty bits.

In the middle of all the apple picking, apple cooking, apple preserving and apple eating, I screen printed a whole bunch of bunting flags



to decorate our stall at The Lake House produce day last month.



I actually finished the farmer boy socks about two months ago but then apple season exploded and I never got a chance to blog them. The top four things about knitting these socks are;

1. The skein of yarn is split into two 50 gram bits so you know when to stop winding one and start winding the next and then you can't help but knit two identical twin socks.
2. The colours and patterns change so often which made them interesting and fun.
3. Somehow, I have no idea how, the yarn is dyed into those colours and patterns which means you get the cool designs without all the ends to darn in.
4. Farmer Bren LOVES them!!

Ravelled here.



Apart from the giving or wearing, the best part of finishing a pair of socks is adding a new colour into my scrappy sock blanket. It's still not very big, but I'm really loving it.

Raveled here.



And then there's Amanda.

As far as I can work out I have one button band, the neckband and the seaming to do and then I'm done. I still have no idea if it will fit me but it's getting to that stage where I'll soon find out.

I'm knitting Amanda in Tonofwool which I am LOVING!! It had beautiful stitch definition, it is super soft, it's Australian and I have a few samples that I'll be giving away soon - so watch this space.

Ravelled here.



Then there's the weaving kit that farmer Bren and the girls bought me a week before mother's day. I am busting to have a go but trying my hardest to wait til I am wearing my new cardigan.



Which brings us to the sweet Tea Mouse.

Tea Mouse is the cutest softie pattern designed and written by lovely Sarah from Chantille Fleur.

In Sarah's own words - The Chantille Fleur Tea Mouse has darling little ears with fabric lining, a matching love heart on the front and even a little knitted tail. She's a sweet little character with a lovely black nose which she just loves to point in the air. The Tea Mouse is a delight to look at and to create.

Sarah posted me the kit which meant all I had to do was find the right sized needles and get to work. The pattern was easy to follow and came together quite quickly. I had thought it might make a sweet gift for a new baby but it keeps disappearing into Miss Pepper's bedroom. Looks like I'll just have to knit up another one. Or two.

Sarah has very kindly offered to send a Tea Mouse kit to one of you guys, (Australian addresses only, sorry).

Tell me in the comments who you would give your little Tea Mouse to and I'll pick a winner on the weekend.

Until then check out the knitting kits here.
The Tea Mouse Ravelry page here.
Chantille Fleur facebook here.
Chantille Fleur on instagram here.



OK, that's me all craft caught up, how about you?
What're you making at the moment?


Big warm woolly love.

xoxoxoxo

it's all about the craft

Hello honey bunches!!!

My how time flies at this super busy time of the year. There's so much going on, so many stories to tell, too many stories to tell. I've been wandering around for a few days wondering where to start. So this is my answer - one short blog story at a time.

So this one, as you have most probably worked out by now, is all about the craft.

And let me tell you straight up, there's not an enormous amount of crafty opportunities on our farm over the harvest months, but still one snatches a moment whenever one can.

I knitted the socks at the top for Bren's Mum Rene.

I want to tell you about the yarn though. A few years ago, on our annual pilgrimage to The Sheep and Wool show in Bendigo, my farmer boy and I met a gorgeous girl called Jess who sold wool under the name sofTrope. I was completely smitten with all of Jess's wares but particularly a chunky hand-spun wool that we bought several skeins of and I came home and knitted them up into farmer boy beanies. A few months later I got an email from Jess letting me know that her friend had showed her my blog and that she in fact knew us, or rather her boyfriend knew us and had worked with us here at Daylesford Organics for a few years. Small world hey!

Anyway, back to the matter at hand, I bought the most beautiful golden wheat coloured socks yarn, sofTrope sock, in a Facebook destash. It's even more gorgeous in real life.

Golden wheat - Bavarian Cable socks ravelled here.



These socks are for my farmer boy.

The other day I found myself with half an hour to kill in the city and wandered up to Morris and Sons for some cable needles. I was feeling a bit funny after a rather unpleasant exchange with a camera shop guy who didn't really want to talk to me when I couldn't remember what sort of camera I used but showed him with my fingers the size of the card that I needed the card reader for instead. No, it can't be a CF (compact flash) card because it doesn't have a flash on it I told him (oops). Yes, it's for me not for a friend I tried to assure him. No, I don't want to buy a crappy cheap one. Yes, I've taken the photos off my camera before......

After that, when I got to the wool shop I exhaled. I strolled around, resisted grabbing armfuls, found what I needed, went to the counter and the gorgeous girl talked me through plastic versus wooden and helped me make a decision.

Then she told me how gorgeous I looked!!!! My dress, my basket, my hair up with a paint-brush, my clogs and green tights. I fell in love and asked her if I could have a job and stay there forever and ever.

And as I was about to pay and unfortunately leave, I saw a pair of socks on the counter just like the ones above. When she told me they were knitted from a single ball of wool with no joins I knew I had to buy a skein for myself.

So I did. And I positively skipped out of there and forgot all about that camera shop man.

The farmer boy socks are ravelled here.



The cupcakes are for my long overdue giveaway winners Reannon and Nell. Sorry lovelies, they're coming soon. x



And then this arrived!!!!!



Remember that New Year's resolution I had to knit a cabled cardigan this year? Watch this space.


So that's me all craft caught up.

How about you? What've you been making?


Wishing for you a kind and random compliment, they're the best!!

xx