New Beginnings

Our gorgeous twin girls, Olive and Eliza, were born on April 5th. They are lovely, healthy little girls with very different features and temperaments.

A few days before I went into hospital I optimistically (or perhaps foolishly) decided to cast on these socks...

A nice and easy pattern that kept me company through the 6-odd hours of the classic BBC version of Pride and Prejudice watched marathon style whilst my daughter was in daycare and I had some precious time alone (alas, those days are now gone). This is as far as I got. It was hard to get overly inspired to knit these when the weather was still so hot and my feet and ankles were swollen beyond belief. The weather has finally cooled down now and my ankles are once again thinner than my calves so I will have to get knitting these again soon.

In the meantime I have started a more pressing project...pram blankets for the twins. After much consideration I decided to go with a colourful stripey mitred square knit in the round.

The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 8ply and the green colourway ties in with the green of our Baby Jogger City Mini Double stroller (love it!) nicely. Now I just have to finish two of these before Winter arrives.

Knit-not Nat

For anyone out there who is still following my blog I thought it was about time I fill you on on where I went and what I've been up to - and as you may have guessed from the post title, there hasn't been much knitting lately.

So the last you heard from me was back at the beginning of August. It was at that time that I fell pregnant again and soon after I started suffering the most horrible morning sickness. I thought I had it fairly bad with my first pregnancy but this time around it was so much worse. I felt too sick and too exhausted to travel to work or leave the house and the thought of knitting made me feel nauseous - so much so that although I had finished knitting the Aeslight shawl for my best friend it wasn't until 6 weeks later that I could bring myself to weave in the ends and block it.

My plan was to wait until the morning sickness had passed and I had a cute little scan to show you at 12 weeks before posting again. Well here's what the scan showed...

...that's right - twins! Needless to say the news came as a bit of a shock. And we found this out the day after my husband had finished up work and we were getting set to move 1000km north, away from family and friends, for a sea change in Noosa Heads on Queensland's Sunshine Coast. After a day or two where we considered putting off the move, we decided to stick to our guns and we made the move in early October. (The morning sickness, by the way, didn't pass until I was about 19 weeks).

Since then we have settled in fairly well to our new life. Jamie has a great job at Ricky's, one of Noosa's top restaurants, and the hours are very family friendly. Nina loves the beaches and the parks and enjoys going to daycare a couple of days a week. I continued working from home for Polli until a few weeks ago, and have found a fantastic midwife to support me through my pregnancy, birth and beyond. We haven't had the best luck with the weather - Queensland has had one of the wettest Decembers on record, major flooding and 3 tropical cyclones - but the lifestyle is great and the people are very friendly. I've struggled with the humidity up here (definitely not conducive to knitting!) but am looking forward to a mild and hopefully dry autumn and winter.

I have started to miss my knitting lately and would love to knit something again before the twins are born. Although I might have left my run a bit late now that they are due in 5 weeks and expected any time soon. A friend gave me Vintage Knits for Modern Babies for my birthday and I would like to make a couple of the Heirloom Baby Blankets from the book, although I struggle to imagine a time when it will be cool enough to need blankets. Instead I might try to knit myself a pair of comfy socks to wear in hospital....

FO: Xavier's Grey Noise Jumper

I decided to call this jumper "Grey Noise". It is quite a nice little jumper and in the Malabrigo worsted it will be very warm. It was very easy to knit and I liked the fact that it was knit in the round so I didn't have to do any seaming - just a little grafting under the arms. It was presented to my adorable nephew at his birthday party on Sunday.



After so much grey I was relieved to be surrounded by so much colour at the party.



Nina had a ball (and ate a little bit too much sugar!).

Construction Tools and Sydney Design

My lucky friend Anna received a very awesome birthday gift this week, a set of 25mm (massive!) ebony needles and enough yarn to make a super chunky hooded scarf, by Nikki Gabriel. Here are a couple of rather dodgy iphone photos of Anna knitting at work.

Anna let me knit a row and I did find it a bit of a challenge to hold such large and heavy needles, but the bespoke yarn is gorgeous and I love the chunky designs. I especially like the idea of being able to knit up a quick garment like Nikki Gabriel's vest.


When I looked up the website i discovered that Nikki Gabriel is actually giving a workshop at the Powerhouse Museum in a couple of weeks as part of Sydney Design. There will be six workshops over 3 days (Fri 13-Sun 15 August), and for the $80 entry fee you get the workshop, pattern, needles, and 2 balls of yarn. I am definitely thinking of attending and maybe dropping by the Wild for Tea Cosies talk by tea cosy queen Loani Prior while I'm there.

A Grey Area

There is something bewitching about this variegated yarn. I was so drawn to it's mix of greys and charcoals that I bought two skeins intending to knit it into something myself.

At first I thought it would make a great eternity scarf, but after further consideration I realised that I couldn't face knitting a big tube and decided that a triangular shawl might be more my thing.

On Monday night I wound the first skein into a ball. Warning bell 1: when I unlooped the skein I thought "it's very stripey". Undetered, yesterday I eagerly cast on Using Orlane's textured shawl recipe. Warning bell 2: it's hard to see the texture with so much variegation. So after knitting 40 rows I put my knitting away and moped around for an hour or so. I then browsed through every project made in this yarn on ravelry. I didn't like any of them! Finally I came to the realisation: I don't like the look of this yarn, or any variegated yarn, when it is knit up.

Woe is me! What to do now with 2 skeins of this accursed yarn? Bury them in my stash? Do a give-away? No. I have decided that it is still lovely yarn, it is Malabrigo afterall, and it might not look right for me but it would make a pretty cute jumper for a little boy that I know whose birthday is coming up soon. I know his mum will read this so I won't give any more away....


Hmmm, even the photos for this post are grey and dreary ;(

Blogworthy Blogs - stash, knit, repeat

I can't quite remember how I stumbled across this blog, but I am so glad that I did. stash, knit, repeat is the blog of knitwear designer Amy Herzog, who has a "passion for well-fitting sweaters".

Lately the blog is featuring a series of tutorials called Fit to Flatter where Amy explains how to choose and modify knitting patterns to flatter your shape. I think it is essential reading for all knitters, especially if you are relatively new to knitting like me and have had issues with fit in the past.

I also like the idea of concentrating on your shape rather than size and have found the advice on her blog helpful and relevant to all areas of the wardrobe not just knits. I really love several of Amy's designs, especially Arm Candy and February Fitted Pullover, and will definitely be knitting these in the near future to fit and flatter my classic pear shape.

FO: Ishbel

So I finished my very own Ishbel a couple of weeks ago and here it is:

I will probably be cast out of the knitting community when I admit that I didn't LOVE knitting this pattern. It could have been my needles. I used my Addi interchangable 4mm needles and the whole time I wished they were pointier. I also struggled a bit with the lace pattern, it just didn't "click" with me and I had to follow the chart stitch by stitch without knowing if it would turn out right. Luckily it did, and I am very happy with my knitting, so that's something.

I made the small size which turned out a bit smaller than I had hoped. It only used up 35g of yarn (Lush Yarn merino/silk fingering) so now I have half a skein floating around in my stash which I find a bit annoying. I might just have to knit myself a pair of purple socks or a matching Ishbel Beret. Next time would definitely make it bigger by knitting the stocking stitch section according to the instructions for the large size and the lace section for the small size.

I don't think it is a mere coincidence that my passion for blogging has waned at the same time as I stopped knitting for others and concentrated on knitting for myself. I am way too critical of the things I make for myself and am afraid that the blog will turn into a whine-fest if I continue to pick at all the flaws of each FO. I can reassure you with news that I have cast on a new project as a gift for someone else and I feel my inspiration returning already (what a relief!).