This is... my first time

I've been enjoying reading everyone's posts for the 'This is...' meme over the last couple of months - a very clever idea thought up by Three Buttons. So I've decided to throw my hat in the ring too.

This is... what makes me happy.


Spending a rainy day inside in the warmth with good friends learning new skills and getting thoroughly hooked! The lovely Katherine ran a (free!) beading workshop for us. I've always loved pawing through beads in the bead shops, and have accumulated quite a few, but have never had quite the right tools, skills or inspiration to do much with them other than making hemp friendship bands (which, incidentally I quite like, but you can only take so far).

It was a real thrill to learn new skills and to come away after five hours with three completely unique handmade creations! I know what everyone's getting for Christmas this year!! Not these ones though. These are mine!!

Thanks Katherine!!

Knit-Con*

*obscure reference to Can-Con - in Canada, the radio stations have to play a certain quota of Canadian Content (or Can-Con) .

I realised it's been a while since I posted any knitting content, so here it is!!

Finished a couple of weeks ago: My Mum's tea cosy! Mum specifically requested a tea cosy to fit her favourite tea pot, which doesn't cover the handle so that the handle doesn't get super heated. This is the first tea cosy I've made, and I just made up the recipe. The wool is hand spun and dyed that I bought at a gorgeous little handcraft shop called The Purple Paddock in Keith, South Australia. I used a basket weave cable. (officially my first cables. So many firsts!) If anyone would like the pattern, let me know in the comments and I will put it up (it's pretty straight-forward).


And last night in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep, I looked up some info on how to knit up the funky tape-like yarn that my mate sent from Germany. It's called Geniale by Schachenmayr Nomotta (50% Merino, 50% Acrylic). And thanks to the ever amazing Ravelry, I discovered that it is very similar to "Linie 194 Solo' and saw lots of examples of things people had knit up with it. (I also saw that Jejune had stashed some way back when.) Anyway... it's kind of fun, kind of awkward to knit with, and automatically makes little ruffles. I liked the look of the skinnier scarves people had made with it, so this is just 5 stitches wide. I've twisted the tape at the end of each row so that the purple shows up on one side of the scarf, and the orange shows up on the other. I like how it's turning out so far. Thanks Alice!! :)