It’s July so, naturally, it’s time to think about christmas presents.
Ok, I am a bit mad, but only because I intend on knitting something for everyone…hence the need to start early. But fear not there will be no gaudy festive jumpers etc…if i’m knitting something for everyone you can place money on it being small and using no more than one ball of wool.
…Hello by the way and welcome to my new wee place. I’ve come over from another place and hopefully my old boxes will be delivered here soon and you can read a bit more of me.
Unitl then back to the knitting…as i was saying small things suit my knitting style best so at the moment i have a lacy cowl on the pins. I’ve just finished another cowl in a lovely ripple pattern which was made in a wool/alpaca blend…sumptuous is the word!
I’ll post pics and pattern soon.
This weekend my good friend and neighbour mirlnlass and I are going to learn drop spinning – i am sillily excited.
Hello Morroless, I managed to find my way to your new abode. It’s a shame you left IB though! But I’m please to read about your knitting exploits – I love to knit and crochet too.
Best wishes.
hi,carol here,why have you left IB are you moving?? I love to knit,but am absoloutly hopeless with crochet and sewing–If I knit a garment that has to be sewn together,I take it to my mother-in-law:
regards,carol
Get the kettle on then Morrolsocks! you make tea while I look at yer knitting..
I like to admire knitters&crocheters’ work from afar… Kneedles and paws don’t mix y’know.
Hullo morroletc, nice to see you ensconced in your new home.
Brilliant blogname.
Found! Another knitter … ever since I watched an aunt knitting by peering over her shoulder as I sat ever so close, I have been a knitter. The one thing I wish is that I had kept a book with a little piece of wool and a description of what I knitted … I feel I may have needed a few books.
At the moment I am knitting My Man a jumper out of a blend of merino wool and possum fur … the wool was purchased whilst I was visiting my old home town in New Zealand. It is wonderfully soft!
I feel all warm and fuzzy and thats just the wool. Landlady I am in a bit of a witter…lace patterns and me just can’t make pals.
The kettles on chaps (did you bring the teacosy LL?), who is having what lol
Taddoe, I’ll be moving eventually…not yet, but i just felt a change from IB was imminent. Not that i didn’t like the cyber-pad over there or anything though.
Hi to you FC how’s life in the kingdom? Maybe needles are out but i bet you love the yarn!
Plaid from early on i’ve tried to keep a little note of what yarn i used along with the ball band ,but that little book has gotten quite big given the yarn obsession lol…oh my goodness NZ wool is lovely.
Plaid: a blend of merino wool and possum fur??? Goodness, I’d love to have a look at that. I guess yarn like that never makes it to the UK! I know you can buy quiviut (musk ox) and buffalo yarn in the US, but I’ve never seen them either. Possum fur… 🙂
Merino wool is just fantastic to knit–i started a fair isle jumper for my grandaughter whilst in NZ -have just to sew it up(just up to armpits as the yolk i done on circular pins-only left the dash thing over there thinking i was going straight back(fly out 5/10) but possum fur???? when i think of all these lovely furry creatures i pass lying by the roadside i feel so sad(okay plaid,i know there are a menace)to they breed possums in farms just for their fur or do they kill them afterwards??
Jill if its not to expensive i’ll send you some
Senior staff used to have Old English Sheepdogs, and their groomings could be spun to produce something close to mohair. Though in general the local avian population had the warmest nests in the country as the dogs were groomed outside on dry days.
“All the fur is obtained from wild-caught possums, which are considered pests” – from Wikipedia (which also mentions the knitting yarn). Hm. Not sure about this at all. The yarn sounds interesting but I’m not sure I’d like to use it – like silk, its provenance sounds a bit doom-laden! It sounds a bit like a fur coat (which I would never ever wear) in knitted form 🙂
I think the buffalo are shorn or clipped, not sure about the musk ox though!
Merino and possum fur is certainly a new one on me, though!
and i know how they catch “”wild possums”””so i’ll be giving it a miss as well!
eesh! it sounds a bit furry to me too :-O
I’m glad the kettle’s on Morroletc, because I could really do with nice hot cuppa – and a good yarn, possums😀
Sorry gals, but the merino/possum wool is really lovely. I also bought two completed garments, one for me and one for Dave, and they are so light in weight, yet so warm … I don’t make too many enquiries as to how the possums are [am asking Dave for a ‘soft’ word for killing … he suggests ‘whacked on the head with a big stick’, ‘knocked off’] culled [?].
Carol … if you have been down round Milford Sound way, you may notice huge tracts of native bush decimated … who is to blame? Posums! Imported pests that thrive in a well-laden bush.
The merino/possum wool cost me only $3 a 50g ball, but I did purchase it direct from the mill, which meant no middle man.
It’s lovely to find there are other knitters in the world! Hopefully more young ones will take it up. 🙂
Plaid—yup ,i know they are really “pests” and i’m being polite when i just say “pests”;did you buy the wool in or near balclutha?? going doing to Gore in november so may visit(no doubt buy wool)the mill
The mill is at Milton, between Balclutha and Dunedin, in part of what used to be the Woolen Mills, where incidently my mother worked for some time.
I priced a finished garment at Peggydale [tourist place on the southern outskirts of Balclutha … it was far too expensive, but at the mill bought two jumpers, plus 30 balls of wool for $5 less than a completed [tourist priced] garment. Mind you the colours were nicer at Peggydale 😦
Thanks,plaid,information jotted down in note-book! can’t wait to get back over there
We don’t have a wool shop in Millport at all. And in Falkirk it’s take your choice of ” Novelty” wools- weird colours/ texture/ man made fibres …. I used to live next to a Sirdar shop in Glasgow and spent many happy hours hanging about admiring the wool. Happy days.
I love the cowl though Morrolesocks I am dying to get something nice to knit up and it looks perfect for a Millport winter!
Not too sure about the possum wool myself…. maybe they wait till they pop their clogs and then get the wool? Or ask for any that want to donate their wool??? Or just use the really, really really old possums????? 😆
Really really really old possums? The ones in the Home for Old Possums (HOP) where the staff go round and pluck a bit of fluff from them while they doze in their hammocks?😆
Think you might, just might, have it in one KC. 🙂 I wonder if Dame Edna visits any of the HOP ? 😉 She may even take a huge bunch of gladioli to throw around!
Actually, possums have fur, and the fur is blended in with the wool. I don’t know how, but no doubt in a similar was as Mia says sheepdog clippings is used in spinning.
Now I wish I had asked more questions!