Yet another cropped top...

Lincraft are selling 250g bags of yarn from the Wangaratta Mill Shop for $5 ... the yarn is not labelled as to it's ply etc, but there is a massive selection of everything from fine 4 ply up to at least 12 ply.
I used about two and a half balls (there were six in the pack) of this green self striping 8 ply.
Again I used the directions in Barbara Walker's Knitting from the Top...I made it exactly the same as my Bendigo Shrug, but left the front edges straight instead of decreasing them down. Now that it's finished, it reminds me a lot of the Anthropologie-insiped Capelet

Chrissy quilting time

...this quilt has been a long time in the making, but finally it's done :-) It started with me using five star blocks from my block stash, and a few oddments of Christmas fabric....It's machine pieced and quilted onto some creamy coloured polar fleece, with the holly leaves appliqued on top. There really wasn't much finishing off to be done..just the applique , some more quilting, and the binding being sewn down :-)

The small quilt with the log cabin corners I made in 1999...it was from a book that I borrowed, called Appliquilt to Go by Tonee White. I loved that I could combine the applique and quilting stitch into one action (I used the same technique this week for my holly leaves).

Reading the forums over on Ravelry I read about a new author (with a knitty twist) to look for...I love mysteries, especially really old Agatha Christie type books, so I couldn't wait to read Patricia Wentworth's Miss Silver Mysteries....Maud Silver is a private detective with a passion for knitting....what's not to love about that!.... so far I've started The Key, and already she's knitting some socks (whilst solving the crime of course!) :-)

Bendigo Shrug

I love Barbara Walker's Knitting from the top book :-)
I made this shrug/bolero following her directions for the Classic Raglan Cardigan...the book was really easy to follow, and I'm really happy with this first project.
I used just under one 200g ball of Bendigo Colonial 8ply. It feels nice and light to wear, and will be great now that summer is here :-)
(Don't you just love this back view shot?!...ha, it was the best I could do today :-D)


.....some work in progress piccies...

...smells like Christmas

The first week in December usually means gingerbread houses here...it also usually means a hell messy kitchen, falling roofs, the smell of scorched gingerbread, gingerbread either so hard that it breaks your teeth, or so soft that the walls cave in...it's a heaps good Chrissy tradition, but you get the general picture!?
Well this year, only one of my girls was game enough to give it another go...after googling for a new recipe (yep, they try a new one every year!), she went with the first one she clicked on, and OMG!, it was the best one yet :-) Tastes great, simple recipe, perfect consistency, and yes, a house that didn't cave in :-D WOOHOO!

December already!

We returned from a road trip to Port Augusta on saturday, and straight away, got the Christmas decs out :-)
This is a chrissy quilt I made a few years back...the centre section (up to the plain blue border) was from a pattern in Australian Patchwork and Quilting (applique special)...I just added some scrappy borders to make it a more usable size. In keeping with the scrappy theme, I made the backing out of any red or blue fabric I had (and used a house block from my pile of lonesome blocks, for the label)...I kinda like the back better than the front :-)

I also 'found' this nearly finished quilt in the box with the rest...(yep, I find my UFO's everywhere!)...all it needs is a bit more machine quilting, and some holly leaves to be appliqued....I should be able to finish it before Christmas ....(that is this Christmas) :-D