The poor old blog has been a bit neglected of late, partly due to the fact that I’m working on my second wholesale order in a row & partly because I’ve been too lazy to pull my camera out to take some pictures (and we all know how boring a blog is without pictures!)
Bendigo was brilliant! It was fantastic to meet so many of the bloggers that I read regularly read, but don’t comment - bad me! The stall holders were all very friendly, with quite a few asking why I didn’t have a stall myself defintely considering it for next year, I felt like I was at a giant, weekend long, yarn party & it came pretty close to my idea of heaven!
I’ve been working on a Claptois for my Mum but have put it on hold until I decide if I’ve got enough yarn for a full size version or not - 7 columns of stitches dropped so far.
The Clap has been tossed aside so I can test crochet a wrap pattern that I hope to release next month - better get a wriggle on then, to add to the two hat patterns I released last week.
I’ve been doing a lot of thinking about the future direction of Live 2 Knit this year & have quite a few changes planned.
For starters, there have already been some changes to the layout of the store, there will be some changes to the standard range of yarns & colourways & I plan on moving away from dyeing to order, I’m also considering a name change to something less knitting oriented, I’ve come up with a hundered names & discarded them all, they just don’t convey the same feeling that Live 2 Knit does, all ideas & suggestions are welcome!
That’s the turmoil part over, now for the distraction:
Lydia blends the finest Australian Cashmere, to rival even Mongolian Cashmere for softness, with downy Kid Mohair, spun at a small Victorian mill.Australian luxury yarn at it’s finest, supporting local cottage industries, available in limited quantities only.
Find your idea of heaven in the latest release from the Kaleidoscope Collection (available in Merino, Wool & Blend yarns only).
Valhalla |
Elusiyan |
Nirvana |
Heaven |
I’m off to the Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show this weekend, I’ll be hanging out at the Wine Bank SnB on Friday afternoon & am booked in for the ACS Brekky BBQ early Saturday morning, before heading off to pillage the craft stalls & if there’s enough time, maurauding the livestock.
It’s proof, if you ever needed it, of how we feel about our craft, the deep devotion, total infatuation & absolute out of your mind, raving lunacy it evokes, that 70, normally rational and sane people, would even consider gathering at THAT time of the morning in the name of knitting, crochet & yarn!
In the spirit of yarn lust, I thought I would leave you with the new Kaleidoscope Collection colourways.
Be enchanted as a rainbow is revealed with each stitch.
Conjure magick that will amaze & delight, to colour the fabric of your life
What sorcery will you create when the muse of inspiration works her voodoo upon you?
And a little preview swatch of Sorcery:
I have decided to go to the Bendigo Sheep & Wool show this year. Some Ravelers are organising a Brekky BBQ & if I want to drag my butt out of bed to meet everyone at 8am I’m gonna need some strong reinforcements.
Koolhaas to keep my head & ears warm, some sort of mittens for toasty hands & a hip flask of something strong & alcoholic to keep my insides warm & get me over the shock of a Bendigo winter’s morning.
Precious gems; Lustrous fabrics; Luxury, sumptuousness, extravagance.
The finer things in life…
Sublime Swatch
Further to my last post, the management of CSIRO Geelong & 5 representitives from the alliance of CSIRO scour users met on 24th April to discuss the future of the Geelong scour. I’m pleased to report that the outcome was positive, with a plan to ensure the continuing operation of the scour in support of Australian specialty & coloured fibre producers.
Now, back to our regular program…
At first glance these socks appear pretty plain, but if you look a little closer you will see that they’re making a mockery of you.
Mockery Socks, free pattern download now available from Live 2 Knit or Ravelry.
We interrupt our regular programming for an important news annoucement.
The CSIRO is planning to close their scour facility at Geelong at the end of June 2008, it’s the only one of its kind operating in Australia that will take small lots of fibre & the only scour to take Cashmere, Mohair, Alpaca and natural coloured wool.
If the CSIRO is allowed to close this facility, it will effectively stop small farmers from having their yarn processed in Australia, three small spinning mills in Victoria will be forced to close and no one in Australia will ever again be able to try to establish their own brand of Australian made wool or garments without a huge and risky capital investment.
It is too expensive to consider sending small amounts of fibre overseas and who would want to when it would mean losing an Australian made product.
Anyone who is concerned is urged to contact politicians regardless of party, write to the papers - indeed anything to bring attention to this issue. For more information go to http://natural-fibres.blog-city.com/ where you can find the latest updates on this issue as well as suggestions for letters to send to Parliment - we can’t let this happen without a fight!
I’m clawing my way back through the black hole that’s managed to suck the majority of February & all of March away, luckily I was knitting at the time it hoovered me up, so I was able to finish a pair of socks & start another before I realised I’d been MIA for almost two months!
Pattern: Drache - my own design
Needles: 2.5mm circs
Yarn: 1 skein of Live 2 Knit Olivia - Elven colourway
Started: January 2008
Completed: Late March 2008
The timewarp must have warped my mind too ’cause I’m totally into the whole socks on 2 circs thing, at least for toe ups, I haven’t attempted the other way yet…
I’ve been working with a new heel construction, it’s a universal toe up/top down short row/flap heel combo, kinda like this, this & this, there are no fiddly wraps or stitches to pick up - I think I’m in love.
Pattern: Pink Champagne - by Jennie Pakula as featured in YARN magazine issue 9 (March 2008)
Needles: 4mm circs
Yarn: 3 skeins of Live 2 Knit Bette - Vivid colourway
I’ve started a sock, toe up, 2 circs, Turkish Cast On, I have to admit, I don’t hate it, I don’t love it either and will probably return to my beloved DPN’s, but I can definitely see the attraction.
I’ve been thinking about the future direction of Live 2 Knit a lot in the last few weeks, I’m torn by what I want and where I think I should be heading…
I’ve been pondering over all my resources and the possible release of a new collection of colourways that may, or may not look something like this:
I feel some inspiration coming on…
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