Category Archives: knitting and yarn

ursula

Posted on January 8, 2013 by

Happy 2013 to you all! I really hope there has been some resting and relaxing in your small corner of the world and that you have some good plans for 2013… we’ve been sweltering in Melbourne since late December (there … Continue reading →

Posted in knitting and yarn | Tagged , | 11 Comments

workshop with susan guagliumi

Posted on November 20, 2012 by

A few weeks back, I was lucky enough to attend a workshop with machine knitting innovator, designer, writer and teacher, Susan Guagliumi. This woman has been on the scene since the early eighties and has a serious amount of expertise … Continue reading →

Posted in knitting and yarn | 2 Comments

ratanjot

Posted on November 2, 2012 by

Ratanjot is the Hindi name for a number of plants in the borage family (including Alkanna tinctoria or alkannet) traditionally used for colouring textiles, food (such as rogan josh!), vegetable oils, wines, medicines, cosmetics and varnishes. It is currently used … Continue reading →

Posted in dyeing, knitting and yarn, plants | Tagged , | 3 Comments

soursob

Posted on October 21, 2012 by

Apparently, this is the year to get your neon yarn on… Solar-dyed, using a handful of soursob (Oxalis pes-caprea) flowers in a jar and adding boiling water and a skein of unmordanted cotton yarn. Left for 7 days on back … Continue reading →

Posted in dyeing, knitting and yarn, plants | Tagged | 2 Comments

red onion

Posted on October 21, 2012 by

Results from dyeing session at the guild. Skins soaked overnight, then simmered for 30 minutes. From left to right: Premordanted with alum and cream of tartar, dyed in pot for 30 min, copper after-bath Premordanted with alum and cream of … Continue reading →

Posted in dyeing, knitting and yarn, plants | Tagged | 2 Comments

logwood

Posted on October 21, 2012 by

After dyeing with logwood at the guild last year, I ordered some chips from a tapestry weaver in Sydney; recommended by my dyeing teacher, apparently he imports plant dyestuffs to dye all his own threads (wow!) and then sells what … Continue reading →

Posted in dyeing, knitting and yarn, plants, uncategorized | Tagged | 2 Comments

i love camberwell market

Posted on September 30, 2012 by

Despite working in a very lovely yarn shop, recently I’ve been finding all my treasures at the market! After the recent score of a totally amazing swift, this morning I found: 3kg of second-hand 4-ply cotton in colours too beautiful … Continue reading →

Posted in knitting and yarn | Tagged , | 8 Comments

spinning, knitting or both?

Posted on September 6, 2012 by

I recently made a lovely new friend, Mel, who has got me thinking again about pulling out my spinning wheel… we met via another lovely friend who kept insisting we’d get along beautifully because of our mutual appreciation for woolly … Continue reading →

Posted in community, knitting and yarn | 3 Comments

new swift

Posted on September 2, 2012 by

My honey found me a beautiful table swift at Camberwell market this morning. Lucky me, I already have a wonderful vertical swift that my lovely friend Amanda gave me and it works perfectly, particularly for unraveling knitting straight into skeins … Continue reading →

Posted in knitting and yarn | Tagged | 7 Comments

black welsh mountain

Posted on August 13, 2012 by

One of a series of posts documenting samples from a class on rare breeds of wool sheep that I took in Stirling in 2010. Wonderful Deb Robson introduced us to a range of British breeds (and a couple of others!) … Continue reading →

Posted in creatures, knitting and yarn | 1 Comment