Wool on...any day ending with a ‘y’.

From February 2016 I wrote dozens of monthly posts titled Wool on Sundays. The idea of bloggers sharing posts about fibre arts such as knitting, crocheting and stitching was the brainchild of Janine who organised the link ups through her delightful Rainbow Hare blog. 

Times and directions change, and this forum for sharing ‘yarny’ projects is no longer a formal monthly feature. And even though I’ve been a bit slack at blogging in recent times, I’ve found that I really miss chatting about projects. So here’s my version, Wool on any day of the week! Lol

In a previous post written in the last month, I showed some photos of blankets made for Knitting for Brisbane’s Needy; a combination of crocheted squares given to me and some granny squares made by me. The solid squares made by my friend Susan were perfect for a plan I’d finally come up with on how to use a big bundle of crocheted motifs that had been passed on to me a few years ago. 

Originally I thought I’d square them up by crocheting more rounds. But I went off that idea as the motifs were quite thin which I thought would not make the resultant blanket warm for the homeless. So I’ve stitched them to the solid squares; the stitches disappearing into the crocheting, so the backs of the squares are neat. 

All the squares laid out ready to be joined together...

Finished blanket ready to keep someone warm. 


A few months ago I bought some Bendigo Woollen Mill’s Classic 8 ply online. It took a while to arrive which wasn’t surprising as on the BWM Facebook page they showed a photo of huge wire bins full of parcels ready to be posted. The company had been overwhelmed with the support from knitters all around Australia. And apparently the orders are still coming in  as witnessed by this recent FB post. 

Some incredible statistics there! And this is what I’m making with my order...the variegated Shepherd yarn was in my stash...completely forgotten about for a number of years too 🙄😉

It’s lovely working with wool again. 

Wool on Sunday

Once again linking with Janine’s monthly feature Wool on Sunday over on her Rainbow Hare blog. here

This month Janine wrote about 2 lovely projects...I loved both! 

So this last month I’ve finished another of my scrappy chevron throws with the same colour ways as usual because I usually buy yarns in my favourite colours! Lol

This is one of the 4 throws that I started mid last year; casting on, knitting about 6 inches on each then popping the started project into a ziplock bag. My reasoning was that I would be more likely to pick up a project that is already started and continue with it rather than dither around when I knew I had to cast on 200 stitches and do foundation rows. And it worked! I now only have 1 project left and 3 throws have, or will have gone to fundraising for charity. 

In last month’s WoS, I wrote about the rainbow baby blanket that I had made for our #5 granddaughter. This prompted DsD3 to suggest that maybe I could make her a rainbow blanket 😉. But instead of the waffle stitch pattern of Meredith’s blanket, DsD3 wondered if she could have something similar to Holly’s blanket that I made in 2017...

Holly on her blankie...note that ‘same old same old’ favourite pattern of mine. 😉😆

So here is the progress on this latest rainbow blanket using just the 7 colours. 

And I’m using a yarn brand I haven’t used before, Paintbox. It’s a lovely soft yarn and very nice to work with. 

With the weather looking like it might at last be cooling down, I look forward to some ‘good knitting weather’. 

Wool on Sunday

The last Wool on Sunday for 2018! Joining in with Janine’s Rainbow Hare blog’s monthly link up to share all things yarny. 

A few months ago I wrote about starting a number of  throws but just knitting about 15cm before rolling them up and popping them into ziplock bags. The idea being that I would have no excuse for procrastinating about casting on a few hundred stitches and setting a pattern when I needed to make a new rug; all that was already done! 

And so it was a few weeks ago when DD1 asked whether it was too late to request one of my knitted throws which she wanted to give Carrie’s daycare mum for Christmas. 🙄😜

‘No problem’, I said smugly, ‘when do you need it by?’ I had 5 weeks; plenty of time. So I got out one of the bagged projects; the old favourite chevron garter stitch. 

So it’s well on the way now and DD1 is very happy with the colours...which are my favourites of course! Lol

Also a few months ago I bought some tickets in the raffle that another knitting charity K4C ( Knitting for Charity) was running. A big surprise was that I won a prize! 



I still don’t know what I might make; it is a very thick cotton yarn, possibly equivalent to a 14 ply.



At the moment I’m just enjoying the fact that I won something! 

Wool on Sunday

Joining in with Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday. I had planned to write about other yarn related things that I've been doing this last month, but in the last day or so I've changed my mind. Instead I'm going to write about an incident in which my past caught up with me...in the nicest possible way.
It all started when I joined my Newmarket Mums group for our monthly coffee the Sunday before last. Pictured are some of the treats we bought 😉

. One of those friends said she had a message for me. Apparently she was having coffee at a local café when she was approached by a woman who asked her whether she had been a teacher at this particular school. When my friend said yes, the woman (Daphne) introduced herself as being a parent of children who attended the school in the 1970s-1980s. Coincidentally I had been a teacher at this same school at the same time and after some chit chat Daphne asked if my friend was still in touch with me and if so, could she please pass on a message to me.

So with all the Newmarket Mums listening intently, the message was passed on. Daphne  wanted to let me know how much she loved a crocheted rug which she had bought at a school fete. Then the memories came flooding back and I shared the story with my friends. I had made that rug!

Gradually the details came back. I had made 2 knee rugs and donated them for sale and both sold. Apparently Daphne missed out on buying one and possibly mentioned her disappointment to one of the organisers of the fete. This person asked me if I could possibly make another one and I agreed. I also remember that the rugs were sold for $10 each and the Parents and Citizens Association also got that 3rd $10 from the extra one I made.

Daphne's message also went on to say that the rug was in perfect condition and that she had told her children that they were not to throw it out when she died; one of them should take over looking after it. Well...to say I was chuffed was an understatement!

When I came home I decided that I wanted to personally thank Daphne for her lovely message. A search of White Pages didn't help find a phone number...but then I hatched a plan using Facebook. I'm a member of a FB group which has members who went to this same school. So I asked if anyone was still in touch with Daphne's family or even Daphne herself. Within an hour or so I had a reply from a former student of mine who said she was a FB friend of Daphne's older daughter. This daughter lives in the UK but my former student said she would message her. It wasn't long before the daughter and I 'spoke' on Messenger and I had a phone number.

Next day I rang Daphne and we had a lovely chat. She said that she had bought the rug as a gift for her mother. Her mum loved the rug and treasured it apparently. When her mother died, Daphne reclaimed the rug and she iterated her instructions to the children not to throw it out when she herself passed away. I had no idea of the year that I had made it but Daphne was able to tell me it was 39 years ago in 1979.

By coincidence her daughter from the UK is spending a week here  and J very kindly took a photo of the rug and the other day sent it to me. It was a shock to see it...I thought it was a granny square afghan...but it was a hexagon design! But I guess it is a while since I made it so not surprising I'd forgotten the actual design! lol

Wool on Sunday

Once again joining in with Janine over at the Rainbow Hare blog here to share what yarn related things I’ve been up to in the last month. Janine's post features a magnificent crocheted mat.

So a fair bit of progress on the mohair throw which is using up some hoarded yarn. I think this will be donated to the Karuna Hospice Christmas Market in late November.

More donated squares have been turned into a big blanket and a little baby blanket. My knitting group had just had a request for baby blankets from an organisation that helps young mothers who are doing it tough and on their own. And luckily one of the ladies who crochets squares for us had decided a little while ago to do some smaller squares in soft yarn...perfect!


The golden yellow yarn was donated by a friend who had the yarn for a while. Readers (of a certain age 😉) from SE Queensland  might recognise the brand of yarn. It’s Baroba which was the brand of a local department store called Barry and Roberts. B&R closed its doors when DD1 was little...about 36 years ago! So my friend had that yarn for a loooooong time, but it was in perfect condition.

I’ve also been working on mini Christmas stockings for K4BN. Each year the group makes these and fills them with sweets and these small gifts are distributed to the needy in the community. We’ve been giving away over 6000 per year.
Instead of showing my efforts I’m going to share a photo of some of the stockings made by an amazing member of K4BN. Rita has made 800 of these so far this year; her goal is to make 1000! 
Aren’t they fabulous and Rita is certainly inspiring.

Wool on Sunday

Confession time...I tend to procrastinate when it's time to start a new project. Especially this is so when it's a knitted throw and the thought of casting on 200 or so stitches and then those first few rows where the pattern is being set...I dither/put it off! Lol.
After the 'knitting marathon' to finish 2 throws for the Parish Art Show in late July, I decided to just focus on starting some projects ready for the future. No new patterns, just old favourites that I can just pick up and work on when I decide I want to make a gift/Raffle prize or whatever. So...

I started 4 throws and popped 3 into bags and I've continued working on the 4th one.
Another garter stitch chevron one...

Yet another garter stitch chevron/ripple one!


A honeycomb pattern throw using as the main colour some remnant navy blue yarn from the Bendigo Woollen Mill bought on a holiday to Victoria a few years ago...or maybe it was a lot of years ago! 😂 lol

The other 'start' was a throw using a favourite slipstitch design and some gorgeous Jo Sharp yarn that I bought before I retired...I've been retired 7 years! I continued working on this as it is so light a project that it was perfect to take away last month when DH and I spent 6 days in Sydney. I think I have enough of this yarn to make another throw! Lol

One more photo that is yarn related. I kept some of the knitted items that my girls wore as babies. The reality is that today's babies rarely (if at all) wear the styles of the 1980s so instead of a granddaughter wearing this particular little top that I knitted in 1984 for DD2, Gerald Bear ( or should that be Geraldine Bear? 😉) is now wearing it while the weather is cold. The little girls love it!

Joining with Janine from the Rainbow Hare Blog for Wool on Sunday.

Wool on Sunday...

Once again I'm joining in with Janine from The Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday, where all things ' yarny' are written up in a post. This month Janine has posted a number of projects including the cutest little toy, Peter Mouse. There is also a pretty little cardi and a market bag...
In July's W.O.S I wrote about the projects ( 2 knitted throws) that I hoped to have ready for donating to the annual parish art show...one was basically finished and I posted a photo in the blog post and one was just started. Good news, both were finished in time! The second throw was that old favourite of mine, the chevron garter stitch pattern, and it was done in my favourite colours.

More about those 2 projects in my post about the art show which is coming up soon!

So after those 2 items were finished, it was time to get to work on making blankets out of all the donated squares I had been given by some very generous people. I hadn't had much time over the previous few months to work on those charity blankets, so it was a case of 'knuckling down' and catching up. There were bags and bags of lovely crocheted squares...


By the time I had joined squares to make 5 blankets, I thought to myself that I couldn't face making many more. But the next day, I was back there joining them. In just over a week, I made 15 blankets...I'd built up momentum and was on a roll...until all but 2 squares had been made into blankets. And I also had my little helper...

It's always better when there is someone with you keeping you company...
On Sunday night I stacked up the blankets for a photo...here are 14

 

When we put the 15th one on the pile...over it tumbled!

So these have all been packed in 2 big bags and are ready to hand over to K4BN for distribution to needy people. At any time of the year there is always a demand for blankets, especially for those forced to sleep rough.

Wool on Sunday...

The baby blanket I was making for Abigail got put on the 'back burner' while I made the birthday bunting for Holly. But by the third week in May, I was back working on that knitting project. And except for one stripe, there was no more 'reverse knitting'; obviously I had finally got the hang of the pattern! Lol.
And it's now finished! All ready to hand over this weekend...

I used Paton's Cotton Blend and because I've made a total of 4 baby blankets in this yarn, I had a lot of part balls of this yarn left as well as a number of full balls, including the white. So there are 18 colours in this blankie...I was surprised how many colours I had! ( the pattern is the Bounce Blanket from Tin Can Knits)
I have started a new knitting project which I will donate to our Parish Art and Craft Show in July...

It's very 'early days' obviously...just an inch (2.5cm) of knitting on circular needles with 194 stitches.
And in other yarn related activities, I can see that I will be busy joining a lovely lot of donated squares into blankets ready to be distributed to the needy. It's been suggested that it will be a cold winter this year here in SE Queensland so my plans are to work on these for part of each evening.

Linking up with the Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday. This month Janine did a teeny tiny knitting project. 😉

Wool on Sunday...

Once again, the subject really should be 'Cotton on Sunday' as my projects used a cotton blend yarn.

Joining in with Janine over Here at the Rainbow Hare blog, where we show off any projects that we've been working on using yarn. Janine's post for March shows another beautiful cardigan that she has made.

In February I finished the cotton baby blanket for our new granddaughter born in January...

And we actually had one day when the weather cooled down and DD1 wrapped little C up in her new blankie.

As soon as I finished that baby gift, I started another. This time it was a pram blanket size and it was for the new baby that DD2's best friend had had in early February...

And after that, I started yet another baby blankie in cotton; rainbow colours this time. (I had planned to work out a new design of my own, but took the easy way out and used that same pattern again! )Our neighbour's daughter was expecting a baby, due in late February and a baby blanket was to be a gift for her. The baby girl was born yesterday, so I had better keep knitting. This is the progress so far...

After I finish all the baby knitting, I will get back to joining donated  squares so that there will be blankets ready to be distributed to the needy when the weather starts to cool down.

Wool on Sunday

The first 'yarny' post for 2018; joining in with Janine over on the Rainbow Hare blog. Janine's post was a bit about Christmas and of course some of her projects. The shawl that Janine made is stunning. Check out her blog post Here.
I've started the year with 2 big bags of blankets made from crocheted and knitted squares which 3 wonderful ladies have given me.

Most of the squares had been joined up into blankets late last year, but most of those still had some ends to weave in. And there were still some bags of squares that needed joining. The perfect opportunity arose in the week after Christmas. DsD1 and her husband were staying with us and she enjoys the opportunity when staying with us, of some 'binge' Netflix viewing.
A series she had wanted to watch was available, so taking advantage of the aircon in the lounge room, I sat with her, and joined squares, edged blankets and neatened ends while DsD1 watched some monster terrorise a group of US teenagers. It took a couple of days to 'watch' the 9 episodes which meant that soon 13 blankets were finished ready! 😄
(The show was Series 2 of Stranger Things; DsD1 loves her sci-fi 😉)

Possibly I will make use of my stockpile of polar fleece to make blankets for K4BN as that will clear some shelf space in at least one cupboard. And sometime soon I need to make an effort to start some knitting for some expected new arrivals. I do tend to knit all year round; just smaller projects in summer.

Wool on Sunday; one week late!

Yes, I've managed to miss out on linking in with Rainbow Hare's final Wool on Sunday for 2017. But without further ado, I will still write my 'yarny post'. Due to computer problems Janine was not able to have a November Wool on Sunday link up so this post is actually what I would have posted then.

This project came about when I found that a former work colleague was going through a very difficult time due to mental health issues. She had even spent a few spells in a unit at one of our major hospitals, consequently missing her sons, but acknowledging that was the best place for her to be at that time 😕.
At the time, I had just made a pink throw for my hairdresser and I suddenly had this thought when I'd finished that one, that T had loved pink when we worked together in the early 2000s. I had lots of pink yarns left over and envisaged a similar throw...a chevron quick knit favourite of mine. Consulting with T I found that she liked very soft pinks but partnered with greys and white. ( I remembered that she had had a favourite checked  winter coat in those colours when we had worked together)
I'm trying to use up my stash and the desired colours were in the mohair range/oddments that I have, so I jettisoned the idea of the garter stitch chevron and went for the wavy slipstitch that works up beautifully in mohair. And is still a quick knit!
I did run out of some of the colours but substituted similar ones from the stash...and I think it still looked okay.

Because I was actually temporarily back in the workforce by early November, the throw was posted to T. And she messaged me as soon as it arrived and I could tell it had given her a tremendous 'lift', and that was what I'd hoped for. 

Wool on Sunday

So what yarn related projects have I been up to this last month? 

Last month I posted photos of a WIP which was using up some expensive yarn that had just been taking up space for a number of years. Being a simple garter stitch and depending on the glitzy yarn to give the throw some pizzazz, I had predicted that the throw would be finished by the October Wool on Sunday, and it was.

I knitted the throw sideways and after every 5 balls of the Farfalle yarn, I knitted 6 rows using black Patons Loopy which is another discontinued yarn that I miss as its texture is lovely. I had 5 balls in the stash.
As the year rushes onward towards Christmas, thoughts turn to the thousands of mini stockings that K4BN members make and fill with lollies, as small gifts for the needy. On and off I've knitted a few but will soon start sewing some from Christmas fabrics as they are much quicker to make...


Looks like a few more mini stockings will be needed this year 😉


And of course there has been more joining squares for K4BN this last month, but I need to find more time to make blankets as the demand is still there despite the weather warming up.
Lovely donors have given me many bags of squares...

Two blankets made with donated squares are almost finished...

Looks like I need to really pull out all stops to turn those bags of squares into blankets!

And I've continued to work on the pinks, greys, white throw for my former colleague.

As usual I'm linking with Janine over at The Rainbow Hare blog for Wool on Sunday, here.https://rainbowhare.com/category/wool-on-sundays/