A Finished Dickie

How easy was this neckwarmer!?! ... and what a really neat alternative to a scarf (just perfect for the start of our Adelaide winter). The pattern is from Elizabeth Zimmermann's Knitting Around...the Simple Dickie on page 36. It took hardly any knitting time, and hardly any yarn (I used some Aussie 8 ply, which knits up to about 20 sts x 30 rows on 4mm needles, in stocking stitch). I'm thinking that these would make great little pressies, maybe with some wrist warmers to match...the complete layered sweater look! I would be able to get the complete set out of one 100g ball of yarn...ok, it's on my list :-)
Adrienne at Magic pixie knitter has tagged me :-) (Hi Adrienne!...love your blog!)
OK, these are the rules: I have to list 7 random facts about myself (I've been reading some other people's, and random seems to be the key word here :-D), I then have to tag 7 other bloggers to do the same....still trying to find another 7 that haven't already been tagged, so in the meantime, here are 7 amazing! Linda facts:
1. I have an IMMENSE dislike of tomato ketchup...can't look at it, can't touch it, can't smell it, can't do the dishes after it, and CERTAINLY can't EAT it!!!!...eeeww, quickly onto number 2...
2.I don't own any makeup...not one piece....nope, not even a lippy!
3. I've been married to the same person for the last 24 years :-)
4. I knitted my first sweater from a pattern in primary school (think I was about 11ish)...it had short sleeves, crew neck, a lacey eyelet pattern around the bottom of the body and sleeves, and was purple and pink random stripes (still love my random stripes!)...I think it was going to be purple, but I seem to remember that we didn't buy enough yarn...I must ask my mum if she has any photos of it.
5. Keeping the same theme, I crocheted my first wearable garment about a year later...it was a granny square vest/waistcoat....I started a trend in my class, and within a few weeks, every single girl was wearing one...my friend Karen offered me 50pence to make hers, but my mum wouldn't let me :-( Think Karen enlisted the help of her Nan in the end....Wish that we'd had yearbooks back then, we would have looked soooo good in our class photo!!..ha!...aaaah the 70's!!
6. Triple J is the only radio station that I'll listen to...drives the rest of the household mad :-D
7. My new favourite TV show is Life on Mars....sunday night at 8.30 on the ABC...check it out...it's really cool :-)
Well thats my 7 random facts...totally random, totally useless!!!! :-D Thanks Adrienne, I had fun thinking them up!....I didn't think I could make it to 7, but I ended up with a whole heap to spare :-D

My week in piccies

I'm having heaps of fun making this cardi :-) I'm definately a make things up as I go along, sort of person...things don't always turn out the way I expect, but that's what's kinda good about it :-D

Back to my Rusted Root (yeah!)
I know it looked like I'd given up on it for a while there (and of course, you're right, I had), but I'm back now :-) I put it down because I stuffed up a line in the leaf pattern, and couldn't be bothered undoing it (lazy?..yep, you bet!)

...but, it's all fixed up now, and ready for some serious knitting :-D

I have sleeves...

...and I guess that if don't like the rest of the
cardi when it's finished, at least I've still got a
cool pair of armwarmers :-D

I made a start on the body, shown here with my new reading goodies...I wanted the Vogue Knitting specifically for Elizabeth Zimmermann's baby surplice pattern (there have been some beautiful ones made over on the Zimmermania blog), and The Friday Night Knitting Club was an awesome Mother's Day pressie :-) ...oooh... and, and, and!! ...my Bonfit Skirt Patterner arrived from Ebay :-D
Such excitement!!... what to do first?

More lounging!

I don't think I'm ever going to get fed up with this lounge pant pattern :-)
I made these from the same pattern as my last ones, but made them with a drawstring waist instead of a zip. I figured that putting a zip in them was going to work out too pricey, as most of the zips I looked at, cost more than the actual fabric. The first pair were darted at the front and back waist, so I left the darts out, turned over the top edge to make a casing, made a drawstring from the same fabric, and just threaded it through :-)
There will be more pants to come...!
2paw, the scarf in my last post was just made by decreasing at the start of one row and increasing at the start of the next...I really liked how the fringe was formed, it was as easy as tying on the next colour, and just leaving the ends dangling...It was an easy knit, and I think it looks really effective ... thanks for the comments :-)
Joanm, I'm more than happy to share my favourite op shops with you :-) The bonfit patterner was from the big Salvo's at Christies Beach (go down beach road towards the sea, through the last set of traffic lights, and it's just on your left)...also on beach road, there are at least 3 other op shops, 2 second hand book shops, and a factory direct fabric seconds shop (I think its called Talking Textiles, just past woolies on the left). I also really like the Salvo's at Hallett Cove and the big one just past Coles on Brighton Road. I keep meaning to go to the big car boot sale at Brighton High on sunday mornings, but haven't gotton around to it yet. I agree with you about the wharf markets at the Port, and only go there very rarely now :-) I tend to stick to the south of the city, but I would love to know if there are any other good ones that I'm missing out on :-)

Dickies, Sleeves and Scarves!

I couldn't decide whether I wanted to knit or crochet, so I opted for both :-)
I'm still working on my Rusted Root knitting, but I wanted something that I didn't have to give too much thought to, and something that would give quick results...Elizabeth Zimmermann's knitted Dickies fitted the criteria (yep I did say Dickies....for anybody like me, who lived in Britain during the '70's and maybe watched one too many Carry On films, I think that the Dickie should be re-named as the Neckwarmer! ;-D ....cue Sid Jame's laughter!!! )
For the crocheting, I just sorted through my stash of blue yarn, chose a hook to suit (4.5mm), and started to freeform crochet some sleeves :-) I have no idea how it will turn out, but I think that it may be a cardi for me...?...perhaps?!

Winter is set to arrive in Adelaide in the next few weeks, so I thought I should sort through my wardrobe in readiness...I've got heaps of scarves, but still keep going back to my very favourite. I made this scarf a few years back from a pattern in Patons Creative Accessories
I really must get around to making some more in different colours...it may be an oldie, but it's still a goodie...and still my fave :-)

Quilts,quilts,quilts!

I've spent all week working on some quilting UFOs...these 3 quilts have been waiing around forever to get finished (the house one has 2002 appliqued on the top!!)...I don't seem to have made too much progress, but hey, at least I've got them out and done enough to get me enthusiastic again :-)
As you can see in the photo, all 3 are scrap quilts....the double wedding ring was pieced by hand, using the english paper template method (cut out the shapes from freezer paper, iron them onto the back of the fabric, tack the edges over the paper, then whip stitch the fabric pieces together). The house one was machine pieced and hand appliqued (again, over the paper templates), and the star one is machine pieced and surrounded by red and white log cabin blocks.
I 'found' another Bonfit Patterner this week (yay!!...can you see me jumping for joy from where you are?!!) I was SO impressed with my pants patterner that I started looking for the other 2 (skirt and bodice) patterners. No luck yet with the bodice, but I bought the skirt one off ebay :-D Hopefully, it is winging it's way from Tasmania right now....soooo excited!...and just the bodice one to go now :-)
Thanks heaps for the comments about my pants both here and on Wardrobe Refashion...the bonfit system is really clever...you just need to take a few easy measurements (pretty much just waist, hips, crotch) and then slide the patterner pieces along until your measurement appears at the arrow, and tighten the knob to hold it in place..there is a bit of pivoting to do as you're drawing around the tempate, but once you've done it a few times (and watched the video), it's really easy. It took me a couple of attempts, and about an hour, to get it sorted in my head...next time should be as easy as! I dropped the waistline slightly, and shortened the crotch, because I wanted low slung, not waist hugging...to do this, I measured my waist a few centimetres lower than I normally would, and took the shortened crotch measurement from there...easy :-D
Can't wait to get my skirt one!!