For the indecisive but cool....

...We have these fabulous convertible mittens. *

My little sister was going to buy a pair for like 30 bucks, but upon seeing my uber cool and cheap yarn I became her glove maker! I scoured Knitting Pattern Central and found a pattern for a pair of cabled and beaded convertible mittens. Using this fabulous pattern (PDF) as a basis I got to work and within 2 nights had one glove down. Not bad!! Of course now I have SSS (second sock syndrome!!) but for gloves, so to spice it up I've knitted a beanie before starting the next glove!

One glove took under a ball of yarn , so at under 2 bucks a ball I'm thinking the word BARGAIN!!!!

*I have very short and stubby hands, so these don't look as dashing on me but unfortunately no one else was available to model!!

A Success Yarn......

Ok so it's been a while - I'm not really getting the hang of blogging yet!!

First up - my alpaca yarn arrived about a week after I ordered it and it is stunning. I've really enjoyed knitting with it and the fact that it is all natural, sourced locally and really reasonably priced make it a great find. Check out Brenel Alpacas...

I've also found some rather fab 'n' fun yarn from... The Warehouse. It's made by Sean Sheep (!) and priced at $1.99 a ball (about 60p) it's self patterning DK yarn in a multitude of funky shades and colours. Regardless to say I stocked up on several balls in several shades. (Picture attached!) and the family is putting in their orders for winter woolies.

As for what I've been knitting well....I've knitted all the pieces for a lace hooded cardigan, I'm just waiting (for my mum!!) to sew it together. I've completed my first ever cabled piece - a quick and easy hot water bottle cover, and in a bizarre twist I've become a winter woolies knitting machine...so far I've whipped up a beanie and some convertible mittens for the little sister and some hobo gloves for the little brother. Next on the list is a pair of gloves for mum, a pair of mittens for me and in the near future some baby clothes (most definately NOT for me!!)

Being fairly new to knitting and lacking creativity I seemed to have found a bit of a niche in glove making, and after testing a few patterns I've found it easier to kind of learn the basic skills (kitchener stitch, leaving the thumb stitches live etc) and then just wing the rest of it. The results have been pretty good so I'll hopefully stick some patterns up when I take some pictures!

The needles are calling....

Got a crazy yarn stash?

.....Don't rub it in!!!

I've just moved to the Christchurch area on a WHV and in a land of fleecy animals I am having real difficulty sourcing good quality yarn!!! Now so far in 3 weeks I've managed to:

1. Get a new piercing
2. Book in for a tattoo consultation
3. Buy Mehndi Oil and Paste
4. Find Hello Kitty Converse shoes straight from Japan
5. Discover that party pills and prostitution is legal
6. Join the Library
7. Rediscover PK chewing gum (the 90s are back!)

BUT I CAN'T BUY YARN!!!!!!!!

I finally found an Alpaca farm online so I've ordered 12 balls (50gm) of 8ply black Alpaca wool for NZ$8.50 a ball (about £3 a ball for completely natural, dye free wool). Of course now I'm going crazy waiting for it to arrive....