This is not TV knitting!

Yes I’ve made a few mistakes and pulled out a few rows, but the Eriskay homespun jumper is growing slowly. Each row is different and within each row there are five different patterns that all have a different repeat length, so easy to make a few errors. However because this wool still retains some of its natural lanolin, at least the stitches keep their shape when a row is pulled down...a small mercy. The patterns are probably not as defined as they would be with more regular wool but the jumper looks very authentic in homespun so I’m pleased with the result. The zigzag symbolises the waves, the diagonal lines are marriage lines, and the diamond pattern is ‘the heart in the home’.

Autumn Mt Wilson

Mount Wilson is a small community in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney that consists of many historic homes and outstanding cultivated gardens. As the Australian bush is evergreen, the autumn foliage of the Mount Wilson gardens is very dramatic and colourful by comparison, and a delight for artists. This is one of my watercolours from Mount Wilson.

Adding some colour to the day

A friend recently asked me if I still did any silk painting and I had to say that I haven't done any for a while. Here are some silk waratahs and poppies painted some time ago. Silk is a lovely fibre to work with and this is just an extension of painting with transparent watercolours on paper as the techniques are similar, but using fabric dyes instead of water pigments. But the finished silk painting has to be steamed to set the dyes so is more complicated than watercolours.

Eriskay knitting

For those old enough to remember The Seekers, you might also remember Judy Durham singing the beautiful Eriskay Love Lilt, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzxdgsSCth4, a traditional song from the islands of the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Eriskay is also famous for the unique knitting patterns developed for the fishermen’s ganseys or jumpers. Using simple diamond, chevron and herringbone patterns based on knit and purl combinations, repeating patterns become symbols of Marriage Lines, Tree of Life, Starfish, Heart in the Home and Fishing Nets.  These patterns are knitted into the jumper in a particular format that creates a unique garment. 

As I haven’t been able to find any knitting patterns from the Isle of Mull (the home of my ancestors) but as it forms part of the Inner Hebrides, I decided to use the Eriskay patterns to knit myself a jumper using my homespun wool. I think my g.grandfather, who was a lobster fisherman and a farmer on Mull, would have approved.

Here's another version of the Eriskay Love Lilt by the Corries, with superb photos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Oh4mWtZxXU

A Celtic design

Just finished a Celtic knot design scarf for Mum and painted a red rose card as well

New slippers for little Emilia

Makeover

Don't have problems with other knitting but I'm usually not satisfied with items that I make for myself. Made this jacket from wool from a quality Merino fleece that I spun some years ago but although it was soft and very warm, I wasn't pleased with the fit. So yesterday decided to pull it down and start again with something else. The skeins washed well and are like new again. Homespun wool from a good Merino fleece is a real delight.

Autumn

Another busy month knitting for the NSW Womens Refuge Centre and sorting all the donations that have been arriving from the K4C group. The final total is 568 items and that is probably a record. A wonderful generosity of spirit from all the people who made items for this charity including quilts, rugs, toys, ponchos, scarves, beanies, gloves, slippers and children’s jumpers.

This is a woman’s cape/poncho that I adapted from a Bernat top down pattern http://www.bernat.com/pattern.php?PID=4462 using 350gms x Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 8ply in denim. Used 6mm circular needles and made the garment longer with a finished length of 46 cms. Also made some children’s vests and ponchos and a collection of teddies and dolls to add to the donation.

Candy and friends

When I was given some coloured felt last week I immediately thought of making some fabric dolls, knowing that I had a roll of calico and lots of fabric pieces. I used the pattern of the 'black apple doll' but with some variations, including adding a 1cm seam allowance for arms and legs to the original pattern. Of course I had to add some wool for their hair and some ribbons for colour. The faces were drawn with soft Faber Castell coloured pencils. Candy is my favourite and I will probably keep her but the other dolls will be going to some little girls via the NSW Womens Refuge Centre. I hope they make them smile.

Landscape scarves

With many remnant and single balls of wool remaining from other projects, I decided to make some horizontal scarves. Having sorted the wool by related colours this gave me varied tones and textures, and I added a small amount of a contrast colour for interest. I used 6mm circular needles, 170 stitches and worked one or two rows of each colour, until the scarf was about 15cm wide, leaving approx 15cm for a fringe each end. I worked in 8ply (DK) but also used double 5ply and added boucle for texture and variety. The best results were using a limited colour scheme for each scarf.

Used to make many of these scarves when I owned an Australian Made craft shop at The Rocks in Sydney (Australian Horizon) using many decorative yarns and embellishing the fringes with beads, but these scarves are more practical for charity knitting but still colourful and decorative. The burgundy scarf was knitted in moss stitch but I found this was too slow so used garter stitch for the other scarves.

The finished result reminded me of some of my landscape paintings. When composing a landscape I look for the horizontal lines that define the forms of the landscape such as roads, paddocks, lines of trees and distant hills. These are suggested by varying the tone but keeping the colour harmonious and related. The effect is also reminiscent of the strata of the sandstone cliffs in the Blue Mountains that have influenced some of my paintings. I have added sections of paintings as examples of landscape lines.

Inspiration can come from many sources...

Amineko

Amineko is a thoughtful cat,
quiet and undemanding
who prefers sleep
to conversation.

Can I have some wool please Nana?

Summer in Sydney

This is Woody, a character from Toystory, who was finished recently for a special little boy. Before the heat arrived here in Sydney in late January, managed to make some gifts for the family, including summer slippers for Mum with a leather sole and adjustable straps. Also made several scarves and a cable hat for a friend visiting from Europe. A special request for a gift for a new baby boy resulted in a quick knit cardigan from an old pattern book.

Little friends

These are some little friends going to Melbourne to the Women's Health West Centre. Hope they make some children smile.