Sock it to me

May I introduce, our latest batch of sock yarns:

Stained Glass Solids

on Fleece Artist Sea Wool.
The colour and shiny yarn combo is fantastic... just like spun gold. I thought about calling this one "Rumplestilskin" but "Coolgardie" (a gold mining town in WA) seemed more fitting.

on Fleece Artist Casbah.
... oh the drape!
Also available on Hercules.

on Fleece Artist Somoko.
Just like your favourite pair of blue jeans!

on Casbah.
A base of raspberry pink is topped with blues, resulting in a vivid violet semi-solid yarn.

on Hercules
Rich, earthy shades of brown topped with dark dirt.

on Hercules.
Fizzy, fun semi-solid with a base of peachy yellow and layered with delicious raspberry.


Variegated
on Hercules.
It's lime, it's violet. Could it be "L & V"? Colourway inspired by my indie yarn swap partner.

on Hercules.
Have you ever seen or tasted blue corn? Red corn? It's yummy! Try it in corn chips :)
(my dear footy-mad partner wanted to call this one "Brisbane Lions"... no way jose!)

on Hercules.
Rich, sophisticated jewel tones of teals, fuschia and purple.

on Hercules.
Go on, have a fling of this colourway.
Candy floss pink, pastel limes and lemon, with sherbet orange.

on Hercules.
Dyed in short colour repeats for a mottled effect with reduced pooling.

on Hercules.
Rich, saturated hues of teal, marine and purple with the occasional white cap.

on Hercules.
Not a terribly imaginative name, but there is no other way to describe this colourway.
Dark mints, delicious chocs, and swirls of creamy french vanilla.

on Hercules.
Imagine a trek in the shadowy forest... many shades and hues of green merge with browns in an organic manner. Dyed to give a mottled effect when knit.


on Hercules.
Glittering rubies, sapphires and emeralds.
on Hercules.
Zingy chartreuse and lime, surrounded by cool aqua and accents of purple.

on Hercules (slight seconds)
One of our most popular colourways translated into sock yarn.
Bright, clear colours of the rainbow accented in with the darkest deepest black, placed randomly along the rainbow spectrum.


........................................

Now for the cryptic bit:
"gnineve yadirF no pu dekaens eb lliw nraY"
@ JollyJumbuck.net!

(if that's too cryptic for you, you could always just sign up to the JJ mailing list!)

Walking Matilda

Mummy got her Christmas wish early this year... December 10th!

All I want for Christmas is for Tilda to walk
For Tilda to walk
See my daughter walk?!

M has been so very very close to taking independent steps for a long time now. She loves to walk with us holding her hand, but thus far when we let go she sits down. Well, a stunning breakthrough happened on Monday night. She let go, walked to Roy (3 or 4 steps). Then back to me. Then back to Roy. Then back to me. The best thing is she repeated it! It brought tears to my eyes as we've been waiting for this for so very long! Just one and a bit months shy of her 2nd birthday :)

I love you sugarplum! You are such a clever little monkey *smooooooch*

Sock yarn

Stained Glass Solids: colour is applied in layers, resulting in a yarn with highlights and shadows to complement stitch patterns instead of overpowering or obscuring them.

Swirls of subtle colour like on the surface of an oil slick.

All of the above are on ACHILLES, 4ply Superwash Australian Merino, and instock now at Jolly Jumbuck.

Ugggh

Yuck yuck yuck --- sums up how we've been feeling lately. I got M's gastro in a bad way so the past weekend hasn't been fun at all with the V&D and the heat on top of that. Roy managed to dodge it!

Feeling slightly more human today so will be catching up on emails (sorry guys) and then having an early night.

I blame Jane!

I blame Jane for my recent sleep deprivation -- and YES I love the Naive socks now, DPN's and all. I've been contantly thinking about these socks during the day with no way to work on them, and then wham M goes to bed and out with the socks! Knitting way way way into the night, I won't tell you exactly how late, but let's say roosters having crowing contests when you're just about to fall asleep is no fun at all!

Last night I kept saying just one more round, which then turned into just one more cable cross, which turned into "OWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!" as the super-sharp Knit Picks went under my left index nail right into the nailbed. I kept going, tired as I was (hence the carelessness), but holy moly the second poke in the same spot hurt like nothing else!

A few things; I prefer a tighter knit for socks than 2.75mm needles but by the time I decided this I was CBB to start over. Like climbing a mountain and going past the half way point. And, I didn't do the heel turning written in the pattern: "Say what?? yo??? Doesn't yo make holes?" So I abandoned that and fudged my own heel turning.

The pattern kicks your butt if you don't have a row counter as all the cables cross at different rows. I copied and pasted the pattern chart to make it a bit easier. Then I just wrote down each cable and on which rows it crosses in a list. The sheep row counter I got from the last Simply Knitting mag around my neck saved my bacon many times.

Three inches into the sock I abandoned the DPN cable needle (or it abandoned me under the bed) and came up with cabling without a cable needle for all except the 3/3L cables. Works great! Then I googled cabling without a cable needle and was pleased to see I was doing it "right" :)

I made only 2 repeats of the opening rib instead of 3, and only made the leg 6" instead of 8". The yarn is a bit busy for the socks, but it's OK.

I cast on late Tue night, it's now Thurs arvo, here is the sock so far:

(I've put a TV remote inside it to stretch it out a little bit and show off the cables). Last try-on it fit great.

I need to do some non-Naive knitting for a while but I don't know if I can until I reach the peak of the mountain! Thanks Jane :o)

Efficient...

... that I am not! Crazy, crazy I tells ya -- yes I am knitting socks on DPN's again. Why??? (I started out knitting socks on DPN's many years ago but have since convincingly switched to magic loop). At this point, I don't know, but the Naive socks keep calling my name so I casted on tonight for the Sock Knitters Anonymous November Sockdown (homegrown designers). Thanks Ann for the Knit Picks DPNs in 2.75mm (unfortunately not available either circular or DPN in Addi's).

Do I love it? No, not yet. The yarn is turning out a lot better than I had hoped though; I thought the striping would be a lot narrower, but it looks fine:

(And I should clarify at this point that I don't love it yet because of the DPN's, and not the pattern! The pattern rocks!)

I'm making the legs shorter than written because my yarn yardage is only 380m instead of 440yd as written. This yarn (ONline Cotton Beach Color 948) is gone at the supplier so I have to make do with one ball. Much as I love it, I just needed a break from TOFUtsies TOFUtsies TOFUtsies!

Let's hope I can finish these socks (ie. two socks not a single) in 2007...

BTW, congratulations Efficient on winning the 07 Melbourne Cup :)

Sox and Socks

This is my best friend Sox:

And these are the just-finished Jaywalker socks from the Woolaholics KAL (from way back in January!):

(Regia Ringel from my stash)
Knit 2 at a time, 2.5mm 100cm magic loop.
Mods: square toe.

A few Rainy Day socks :

(2 strands TOFUtsies on one 3.25mm 30cm circular)

The purple pair is mine, it's about 2 months old and continually worn, machine washed, dried, worn, washed, dried. Look how well it's wearing:
I love TOFUtsies!

Et voila!!

One Rainy Day sock:

(cast on late Fri night). I couldn't go to bed till this was done but will leave the Kitchener for tomorrow (along with one Jaywalker to be grafted also).

The only mod's I made was a slipped stitch heel flap for better wear.

I love the Rainy Day pattern for quickie sock fixes! I used two strands of TOFUtsies on one 30cm (3.25mm) Addi Turbo (with a second for heel flap and toe).

Will take pics of my first pair exactly like this (different colour) tomorrow -- that one's seen some tough usage and still looks super nice.

Ready to cast on second sock tomorrow. I hope they fit the intended recipient! ;)

Waffle Sunday

M and I are having a lovely day together. Sundays are usually daddy days but daddy's off racing his sports bike round and round and round a racetrack today. Fingers crossed for no broken bones this time ;)

We started off with waffles (M and dad's Sunday brekky) and I didn't too bad. Well little miss polished off a whole waffle by herself! A dob of icecream and honey does the trick. The chooks even got half a waffle from leftover batter. I'm not usually too keen on these but I had a little one for myself too.

Then we went for a little bike ride down to the river and my favourite one-way bridge. At least now M's helmet fits her, it was a little big for Rottnest early this year.

Off to mum's for dinner tonight so princess is having a nap and I get to post...

More yarn pr0n:

(Sebastian, Black Rainbow, Retro Prince, Black Rainbow)

These are some from Friday dye day, the rest aren't dry yet.

And some maiden eggs from the weekday girls! So cute and perfect strong shells; most of the time first eggs are a bit weak but not these! I think the cackleberry queens (Emily and Mabel) will have some competition from the new layers on the block! (oh and the roosters are enjoying their burgeoning maturity too sometimes too too much chook sex! We need to adopt out Saturday there's nothing worse than having two roosters to one yard!)

Phoebe love

Some recent addyetions:
(Clown Fish, Spring Zing, Splish Splash)

This new batch of Phoebe (8ply Pear Tree Merino) has reminded me of why I fell in love with the wool in the first place! Buttery, creamy, I haven't touched anything softer!

And some Rainbow Tweed:

All will make an instock appearance next week :)

Spring Zing for Ella

A custom Flirty Skirty for the new girl in Pip's life!

The wool (Aphrodite):
(that's about all I've got so far -- lots of knitting to do!)

Rainbow Bridge

I'm thrilled with how the Black Rainbow colourway has turned out on this Flirty Skirty:


Not happy with the lace part though, it will look so much more striking in solid black. So off to the frog pond for it! (I'm going to knit a new lace section and graft it on to the skirt)

I'll let the newsletter subscribers know when it's time to go live :)

Fare thee well, Missy

Well, Missy and Lulu are together again at last. We said goodbye to Missy yesterday, a cold and blustery day, just the sort of day for a funeral. I was really heartsick to think of her in the cold wet ground last night... Lulu is growing an orange tree and we got a mandarin tree for Missy.

Tell you what though, Lulu won't be able to recognise Missy beyond the Rainbow Bridge! She will be young again, and oh-so-sprightly. They will run the fields together until we join them.

At almost 15, Missy has been living on borrowed time. She was blind, half-deaf and skinny beyond greyhound skinny! She eats so much but just can't put the weight on. Well for the past few weeks she has been having trouble getting out of her beanbag, even to go to the toilet. It was sad to put her to sleep but not the same sort of sadness as with Lulu --- I know she's had a good life and I'm just lucky I got to spend some of it with her.

Here is a pic of them together in happier times...

A Pet's Prayer

If it be I grow frail and weak
And pain should wake me from my sleep,
Then you must do what must be done,
For this last battle can't be won.

You will be sad I understand
Don't let your grief then stay your hand.
For this day, more than all the rest,
Your love and friendship stand the test,
We've had so many happy years,
What is to come will hold no fears,
You'd not want me to suffer... so
When the time comes,
Please let me go.

Take me where all my needs they'll tend,
But stay with me until the end.
And hold me firm and speak to me
Until my eyes no longer see.

I know in time you too will see,
It is kindness you do to me.
Although my tail its last has waved,
From pain and suffering I've been saved.

Do not grieve that it should be you
Who must decide this thing to do
We've been so close, we two, these years,
Don't let your heart hold any tears.

Smile, for we walked together for a little while

(From Pocket Inspirations)

Ravelry, finally

I know what I'll be doing for the next few days :)

(my username is JollyJumbuck)

I just want to knit

I am so itching to step away from the keyboard and knit knit knit! Here are the projects calling my name at the moment:

• Knitting Needle Knitting Bag -- in a grape purple (cheapo Spotlight 8ply wool, 2 strands), with bamboo knitting needles and a gorgeous Russian Doll fabric in lilac/pink for the lining. The berry stitch is beautiful front and back.
• Cabled socks (my pattern) for Roy in TOFUtsies 722 Stand on Your Own Two Feet -- for summer.
  
• Hedera for moi in TOFUtsies 784 "A Walk in the Park" -- blimey it's limey! I chose Hedera because the pattern is very similar to "Gull Wings" from Socks Socks Socks that I made years ago, nostalgic knitting!
• A lace sweater for my mum in (yuck) Zhivago. The pattern is beautiful (from Creative Knitting mag) but I'm hating the yarn. Should I persevere or give up and make her a lace shawl instead? We'll see.
• Rainy Day Socks for Matilda to match mine (I used two strands TOFUtsies for mine, will use one strand for M's in leftover yarn)

Anyway, whine over. Back to work.

Monday's the day

Well I set myself a deadline of Monday to open up the doors to my new store --- it definitely won't be all done by then (too much stuff, and I'm too much of a Virgo so each listing gets tweaked a few times, times that by the number of listings and well you get the idea!). Anyway, I'll go with what I have and keep on adding stuff as I go. At least it'll be open. I've put a little ad in YARN magazine so it has to be open! Haven't managed to get my hands on the Oct issue yet so it's nervous anticipation.

I've had a ton of fun trying to pick the Fleece Artist/Hand Maiden order, OMG it all looks so good! The sock yarns I've settled on are:

Merino -- 100% Superwash Merino
Sea Wool -- 70% Merino, 30% Seacell
Somoko -- 65% Merino wool, 20% Kid, 10% Nylon, 5% Silk
Casbah -- 80% Superwash Merino, 10% Cashmere, 10% Nylon
and for soakers:
Minerva -- 100% BFL, DK (22st/4")
Athena -- 100% BFL, Aran (16st/4")
Bertha -- 100% BFL, "Big Blue" Bulky (12st/4")

The samples I have are simply lush!! I can't wait to nab a skein of Casbah for myself (indulgence to the max) and Sea Wool for a pair of summer socks for my mum who's moving to Arizona soon. Pretty chuffed with landing this supplier, there's only one other FA/HM stockist in Australia -- and they are stocking totally different yarns to the ones I have picked.

I knew that knitting one pair of socks a week in the cold winters of Central Oregon would lead to something one day! LMAO

Jolly Jumbuck will be focusing on yarns for socks, soakers, and something else :) You pick the something else's!

I need to nail down the colourways for the sock yarns by the end of the weekend too! Arrrgh so very very hard. So the store will have yarns dyed by the FA/HM artisans, plus I am getting some in undyed for my colourways ;)

I'm changing the way yarn is sold; it will now be dyed to order. You choose the yarn and choose the colourway, so you end up with the yarn that is just right for you! I hope to dye every Friday, limited slots available. There will still be instock yarns for those who don't wanna wait ;)

Alright, back to work!

xoxo

Come on Fleece Artist!!!

I'm going nuts waiting on the Fleece Artist BFL that was sent seamail instead of airmail due to bad communication on my part :(

At the moment I am BFL-less! (almost - just enough to cover Cuffed&Waisted orders).

In the meantime I'm about to place another order for some OMGTDF Fleece Artist sock yarns and will be adding a little bit of BFL to it, who knows when my ship will dock LOL!

On other news: I've closed down JJ@OzB for a couple of weeks while I focus focus focus on getting JJ.net up and running -- there's a bit of a deadline, the reason for this will be revealed in October ;)

I also have lots of backwards/catch-up blogging to do, where does the time go!

Last minute Irene

They don't call me Last Minute Irene for nothing. I have just finished some items for Friday's stocking (yes only two days away) and they are drying furiously in front of the heater as we speak! I foresee some late nights ahead...

I don't know why I stockpiled all these longies rather than listing them as they were done (probably because I don't feel the urge to visit my to-be-embellished pile very often)! A couple of pairs still aren't done yet -- "Sugar Gliders" never got finished. I'm keeping that one for next winter. And I didn't have the time to do the fairy penquins on the "Winter Blues" Targhee pair.


I shouldn't be listing longies at this time, but shorties!
TBH I don't think it will sell. So I will have to have the motivation of finishing both pairs for next year.


I don't want to! I want to cast on for Amanda's custom, the wool is just sitting there looking at me...

Chooks!

Here are some of my poultry friends...

The cackleberry (egg) queens Emily (left) and Mabel (right). These girls are finishing off some leftover Weet-Bix as little M is off her food at the moment. They keep us well in eggs, apart from a six-pack bought while we went camping we haven't bought eggs for about 3 years now.

Haven't they grown!!! This is Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday chilling under the big lantana bush next to my dye studio. I'm 99% sure we have two roosters, in the front guarding the girls. Caught them play cock-fighting the other day! These guys are a treat to watch :)

Some new colourways

These and more are previewing now on Ozebaby and will go live next Friday night (31st August) at 7pm Perth time

Splish Splash
Rainbow Tweed
Cheeky Monkey
Crown Jewels
Spring Zing
Spring Fling
Clownfish
Icecream Princess
Enchanted Eggplant
Retro Prince
Bird of Paradise

My brother is a bloody GENIUS!!!

I am now happily writing this post from the living room, thank you very much! Yay yay yay!!! I am wireless! After having the router for more than a month and not being able to get it working, my brother risked the wrath of his wife (they had plans tonight) and made an impromptu technical call to set it all up for us. YOU ROCK SHAW!!! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

Yarn tank

Here's a quick pic of my fish tank -- has a ledge in front perfect for displaying yummy yarn :)

Off to do more dyeing today, close-up pics to come later ;)

Happy shopper

Look what I picked up at my local spinning shop (Bilby Yarns, a bit of a drive for me but wonderful shop and amazing service) today:
(don't mind the "mountain of laundry" in the playpen)
Ashford wooden umbrella swift: I've been saving my pennies for a new swift for a while now. I have a plastic umbrella one but really wanted a wooden swift -- mainly because I like working with bigger skeins. This one takes two metre skeins no problems. It's lovely :) Love the feel of wood.

Back-issues that I didn't have of YARN magazine. Have already picked out at least four wanna-knits from them. Including some summer projects.

And a cone of 1-1/2 ply embroidery yarn in darkest brown. Impulse shopping!