When the result is worth the wait

Take some of these beautiful naturally coloured Corriedale fibres from Anna Gratton in New Zealand – chocolate, kola & champagne.

Spin them into these little lovelies. Chunky and uneven.

Then crochet this beauty – weighing in at just under 4kgs and measuring 153cm x 153cm.

Take the opportunity to buy it now for $800 (standard postage within Australia is free of charge) and enjoy have a unique handcrafted blanket in your home.

Project timetable:
Fibre arrived April 2015
Completed spinning February 2015 – I had spun and made a couple of smaller projects to get a feel for the colours and I had to decide on how I wanted this much yarn to look.
Completed the blanket January 2016 – Many other projects were completed along the way but this was a labour of love, a true “create a yarn for a specific project” moment.

Be careful what you wish for …

I have a group of tame lunatics that regularly send me photos of large or unusual knitting & crochet projects implying these are “must have” items.

For example,  camper cover (apparently my Grey Nomad sister could use one of these)

shorts – seriously, who what chop up their awesome afghans for these? (my brother and male cousins are still waiting for these)

    

For those with a sense of whimsy and several kilometres of yarn there’s the teepee

I love this sense of fun, mostly at my expense, but realise there are not enough hours in a day to fulfill these orders, thinking “be careful what you wish for, you might just get it”.

But when these not-so-ridiculous socks came into my newsfeed I saw victory on the horizon, small that it may be. So if you send me this,

I’ll make you these (thanks to my beautiful foot model)

If you want these ($20 plus postage) or other socks message me and yours will be only a matter of days away.

In  all seriousness (with a bit of tongue-in-cheek) if you want it I’ll knit it.

     

 

 

The sights of summer

Knitting and working with wool are often seen as winter sports. But the long sunny days of summer lend themselves to washing yarn and dyeing yarn and fibre.

And then there’s the familiar icons around the countryside. Hay that’s just been baled.

Lavender in flower waiting to be harvested (and yes baled hay in the background)

Echidnas marching through the garden

And oh the fresh fruit, one of my favourites the mango

Oh, summer you are so short but you are so amazing!

The 4 health benefits of knitting

As knitters, many of us can feel the health benefits of knitting. But is it a placebo, or something more? Angie from the LoveKnitting team investigates. Ma

Source: The 4 health benefits of knitting

 

I always thought just enjoying knitting was enough but it’s good to know why I might be enjoying it.

It’s a New Year (2016 already)

Happy New Year!

 

Can you believe another 365 days has rolled around already? Fortunately, 2016 will be even longer – it’s a leap year. There’ll be Olympics in Rio which will coincide with some knitting & crocheting Olympics – Ravelry will have details as the time approaches. And I’m sure there’ll be plenty of surprises – both pleasant and unpleasant.

I’m not making New Year’s resolutions this year – I’m setting goals. For example;

1. I will knit or crochet 200m of yarn per day, hence the counters on the sidebar of this page
2. I will use my existing supplies of yarn (stash) to make my products (not sure how to score this)
3. I will spin a lot. Much that I love spinning it’s difficult to make a goal but I do have a counter for that too. Keep in mind that to spin 100m of yarn you spin two 100m singles and then ply them together so you’ve really spun 300m (yes, loophole)
4. Get a new day job. In mid-November I lost my old job due to the death of my boss & my friend (sad face)
5. While I don’t have a day job behave like Nothing But Knits is my full time job (happy face)

No matter what happens this year, there will be growth and there will be learning – with 5 kids (even though they’re mostly grown up) and a husband (who will never grow up) there isn’t much choice. I hope you come along for the ride and engage through the comments.

Say “hello” to Cathy James

 

It may seem strange that this wasn’t my first post but it’s a conversation I always struggle with. I want the stuff I make to be the focus no me I don’t have a “light bulb moment” where life changed and I just had to create – it’s something I’ve always done.

And then when I was considering this whole “making selling writing” thing and what is the story behind it I realised it was passion. I’m passionate not to the point of being fanatical about knitting and spinning, and not so much about crocheting. Knitting and crocheting are as familiar to me as breathing and I learned to spin about 10 years ago but at the end of the day I do these things for me. My true desire is to hook up with people who would like to have hand crafted items and either haven’t learned how or don’t have the time or inclination to make them. Why shouldn’t you have hand knitted blankets or socks or whatever – you don’t have to say you made them yourselves? How cool would it be if you could describe a yarn that wasn’t available in stores and someone could make it for you?

Finally, while in the shower the other morning and thinking about this because “it’s got to be right” I did have a “light bulb moment”. After all these years of making beautiful things and receiving many compliments I hadn’t yet believed in my own abilities. If I give or sell you something I’ve made I know it is top quality and that no shortcuts have been taken and you will be 100% satisfied. In a nutshell, I make stuff, (lots of stuff) and it is really good.

So, enough about me and let’s just get on with 2016.

 

 

 

What knitters do when Christmas is over

That time of year is near again – when Christmas is over and a new year is about to begin, but the weather is still frosty and cold. Here’s what knitters do

Source: What knitters do when Christmas is over

I saw this today (click the link and read the whole article) and thought “knitters never stop” except when it’s so hot the yarn won’t slide through your fingers. Here in Australia it’s not frosty and cold just after Christmas but there are still the next project to plan for – particularly if you were lucky enough to get yarn as a Christmas gift. But there’s Valentine’s Day in February, Mother’s Day in May and those endless birthdays …

You know what I do when I want a change from knitting?

 

 

Christmas Eve

Wow! Christmas tomorrow. Slightly different from other years – gifts are lean, guests are few but we’ll still enjoy what I like to call the 3 Fs of Christmas – fun, food & family.

The tree has been up and trimmed since December ! – all under the management of D2 who would have had the tree up mid-November. Just looking at it makes me smile but as always there is that twinge of sadness when I remember those who can’t be with us – either they have other family members to visit with, they’re too far away to visit or they’re no longer with us.

There is no crafting today. There is just preparing the food and the  house for our little family of 5 plus my mum. It’s going to be hot and we’re going to complain about the weather. We’ll certainly eat too much and odds-on hubby will fall asleep at the table. At the end of the day we will have created a new Christmas memory to go with those of Christmas past, like when our 2 sons are together for Christmas they build a gingerbread house – not always pretty, but always delicious.

Next year, 2016, is just around the corner and I’m looking forward to the adventures to come but right now I’m thinking about friends, family & Christmas.

Merry Christmas to my family, friends, and customers. Enjoy the now, learn from the past and accept that “life is beautiful”.

Online Shop

After recently losing my day job I am focussing my energies on my craft – knitting, spinning & dyeing. With the urging of my younger brother I created an online store (Big Cartel) that not only includes a working shopping cart but a blog (see my first post Starting Out)

To view my shop click here. I’ll be getting new products up daily until I have exhausted all completed stock, so stay tuned. If you’d like a custom order or would just like to ask a question, do so via the contact page of my store or through Facebook.

Starting Out

They say “a journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step”. I have been “going to start a blog” for about 5 years. This is my first step.

I’ll largely be writing about my little business Nothing But Knits but as home and business significantly overlap there’ll be other stuff too.

I live in Margate, Tasmania, Australia with my husband and 3 of our 5 kids are still at home – none of them are very young. I work from my studio, aka hubby’s shed to produce hand dyed fibre, hand spun yarns and hand knitted & crocheted things.