Warning - toy does not come with batteries...

This week's blog will be a departure from the usual work stuff since I am officially 'off' now until the end of January (although the yarn shop and the design shop's current stock will still be available from 8th January.)

So how many of us are running around like headless chickens trying to get a spare moment to wrap the kids gifts - only to find when you do find the time that you have some assembly, batteries/accessories to buy or some work to do on their gift before its ready for wrapping?

I thought I was prepared. I had bought my daughter a simple weaving loom for her to learn to weave on and stashed it away months ago.  Although when I went to wrap it I took it out of the box and found that the amount of yarn on the tiny project that came with the loom was small.  It was not going to make anything that she could use.  Naughty Mummy couldn't help but meddle! So I spent over an hour re-warping the loom with some rather nice varigated 'Naturally' Yarns Merino, Possum and Alpaca with some nylon (wish I'd seen the yarn's contents before gifting it to Miss 6 as it would have made lovely luxury socks, but nevermind, she'll love it and it will make a fantastic scarf!) .

There were no pictures on the instructions and the wording 'you may need to seek some help' was obviously aimed at the child assuming that the parent knew how to weave already or perhaps was an engineer.  Had I not had weaving experience it may have taken longer to fathom it since I had already eagerly ripped off the project that came with the loom without seeing how it was warped.  I even did a little weaving to start her off so that on Christmas morning she'll be ready to go on a scarf project rather than having 5 minutes worth of weaving with what was supplied. 

 I had a lot of fun making Christmas bunting.  It was super-simple to make and looks very festive.  Once Christmas is over I am thinking - seeing as the tree is in our playroom - of making some fun bunting to festoon the room with year-round.

Craft-wise all knitting and designing is on hold at the moment as I make a crocheted gingerbread house - I am not far off finishing so will post pics up once its done.

Time for a break...

I've spent the last couple of weeks knitting like mad for a custom order I took on at a local market.  Unfortunately the only photo I took was such terrible quality its not worth putting up here.  I will be re-knitting the pattern and launching it next year - a scarf and stole in 4-ply yarn.

So whilst my knitting hands have been so busy there has been no pre-Xmas dyeing and also my fibre-prep/dyeing has ground to a halt.  We have a few overseas visitors arriving next week until the end of January (finally got the curtains & a few other desperate home projects done!) so the shop will be temporarily shut over Christmas until 31st December, then will be open for January for existing stock only - no custom orders or new stock until February 1st.

I also will not be attending any markets until the end of January, and am preparing for the Laurimar Town Fair which will be held on 12th February.

Merry Christmas - have a peaceful holiday.

Custom Dyeing and Weaving

Its been another busy week...  I've started a knitting project for relaxation... not one of my patterns, nor a new design, but am knitting up Indigo Bay pattern by Kieran Foley.  I'm knitting it in Vintage Purls silk-merino hand-spun single that I spun on my Sourkraut spindle (I think this was my second ever yarn I hand-spun) and Vintage Purls lace weight in a grey colourway - unfortunately I lost the ball bands for both so have no idea what colours they are but the colors teem up together really well.

 This week I did hand-dye yarn, however it was all for custom orders.  My favourite was this lovely pale greys, blues with a hint of beige.

I also managed to dye a custom order for myself!!  It rarely happens!  Some black for warp on my loom, and I picked up some lovely, chunky merino when I was back in New Zealand and the blues and greys from my favourite custom order caught my imagination... so I mixed up some colours and dyed up a skein each of a bright royal blue and a varigated grey... design ideas are buzzing around my head... my fingers can't keep up with my brain!

I also enjoyed the long weekend - we went to Whittlesea Show.  I had to share the pic of the sheep - this was a primary school age entry.  Very cute!

I have also managed to warp up the loom and start weaving again this week - first time since we arrived from New Zealand.  Am quite glad to be back in the weaving mood.  Couple of beautiful scarves made with Soya Silk, Blue Faced Leicester, Merino and alpaca yarns with a bit of hand-spun silk/merino and some pure silk  in there too.  The first is a beige/grey/pale pink concoction, the second is all blue

With all of the above I seem to be somewhat in avoidance mode at doing the curtains for the house!!  I wonder what I can get up to next week in order to avoid the dreaded curtains?  Oh that's right I have a pile of unprocessed fleece... which will be being washed, processed and dyed and blended into some rather exciting roving - I definitely won't have time for curtains!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Firstly, Happy Halloween!

I remember growing up in the UK, cold Autumn nights this time of year - unlike the 30 degree heat we have in Melbourne at the moment... and one memory sticks in my head particularly... since Halloween and Guy Fawkes night are so close, my Granddad, who was a farmer and a very artistic chap, decided to amalgamate them... He happened to have a big empty field, and made a huge bonfire, carved swedes, yes pumpkins were very exotic in the 1970's in North Yorkshire!! He had swedes that were legendary in size!  But the magic of that night, fireworks, bonfire keeping us all warm, sparklers in hand (probably highly dangerous in those days too!) and our swedes with scary faces and candles burning in them came back to me in an instant when I was wheeling my trolley round the supermarket this week and saw monster sized Pumpkins... Well - it was too much for me to resist recreating a bit of magic for my own children.  So armed with knife just as old Granddad did, I sat and carved out my pumpkin much to Mr 2's delight.  It was messy, yes, but boy was it fun!  I might not have a field to have a bonfire in (and I doubt, since we live in bush-fire area, that it would be welcomed!) and I may not be allowed to light fireworks (again because of the bush-fire area) but I can bring a little Halloween magic to the family...

Here is the last installment of Christmas Gift Yarn Club - gorgeous colour - Tree Snake 100% Australian Organic Merino 4-ply and the knitting pattern for Snow Garden Cowl.

The pattern for Snow Garden Cowl will be available 26th April 2013 to non-club members.

My new knitting pattern, Aphelion Cowl, has been released today - its a free download on Ravelry so go, help yourself - recommended yarn is any dk yarn.  I used Madeleinetosh Tosh DK in 'Well Water' colourway - its gorgeous!

Time for a rest?!

Well - there was me saying to myself that once Christmas Gift Yarn Club was over I was going to take a few weeks off designing and get the house and garden straight ready for the stream of overseas visitors we have arriving from December...

Less than 24 hours after getting the last parcels ready to mail off, well 10 minutes later!!, there is me with a new design on the needles, I've also secured some lovely spinning fibre which should be available before Christmas, and have applied to do the Laurimar Town Fair on 9th February next year... procrastination on the house-front? - oh yes!! I see a mad-panic rush going on at the last minute on the day the guests arrive...

The new pattern that I'm currently working on will be released at the beginning of November and is a quick and easy knit using DK yarn, and best of all, the pattern will be available for FREE! on Ravelry.  I will post the link when its available.  This is as much as I'm prepared to show at the moment...

This is the last week to grab a Christmas Box of Charlisa Yarns for bargain price...

Box of Goodies!

I attended St Andrew's Market on Saturday.  Despite it being an overcast day I had a great time meeting knitters, crocheters, hand spinners and other creative people that work with yarn.  Next time I will remember to take some photographs!

New yarn instore now:

'Galah' 100% Australian Organic Merino - grey through pink to pillar-box red

and 'Whitsunday' Blue Faced Leicester - turquoise to greeny-turquoise to bright turquoise.  A gorgeous colour-way!

also I have added a pre-sale of a Christmas Gift Box of yarn for the discerning knitter - one skein of 100% Australian Organic Merino (100g), one skein of Blue Faced Leicester (100g) and one skein of Baby Alpaca/Mulberry Silk lace yarn all hand-painted by me.  Fabulous Christmas gift for the knitter.  Its on pre-sale until the end of October at the bargain price of $56- and will go up to $60 on the 1st November so get in early and get organised for Christmas!

Boomerang Shawl

School holidays are at an end.  At the beginning of the holidays a friend and I took our kids to the zoo - they had an amazing exhibit to celebrate 150 years of Melbourne Zoo with 50 decorated Mali elephants which are being auctioned off to help conservation work at the zoo.  Most of them were painted, but I HAD to put up a photo of this - love it!! A knitted elephant!

The second installment of Christmas Gift Yarn Club was shipped last week - Boomerang Shawl and a skein of the new lace weight Baby Alpaca/Silk yarn.

I knitted the laceweight yarn (which at 800m per skein is bordering on cobweb weight) using 2 strands which gives a gorgeous draped effect.  A skein of Charlisa Yarns Baby Alpaca/Silk laceweight yarn gives enough meterage for 2 shawls knitted with a single strand, or one knitted 2 stranded.  You could equally use a luxury sock-yarn such as Charlisa Yarns 100% Australian Organic Merino for the shawl. 

The shawl will be launched to non-Christmas Gift Yarn Club members on 1st April 2013.  All patterns for Yarn Clubs are exclusive to members for 6 months.

I am aiming to be a stallholder at St Andrews Market this coming Saturday 13th October providing its not a rainy day.  If you're local do pop along to say hello.  All of my yarns will be taken off Etsy on the Friday and any unsold will be re-loaded on the Sunday - so if there's a particular colourway you're keen on it might be a good idea to nab it before I take it to market.

Happy Knitting!

Yarn Update

I've finally finished a hat which should have taken far less time to finish!  A lovely crocheted Koala hat for Mr 2.  He nagged me all through Winter to make him a hat and it seems I am a little too late as the warmer Spring weather has arrived - but he looks super-cute in it.

 In fairness to my slowness to finish his hat - its been a crazy couple of weeks getting the second knitting pattern ready for Christmas Gift Yarn Club.  The parcels are shipping this Friday... The mannequin in my studio is wearing 2 of the new pattern (she's very greedy!) and I must say it looks rather lovely - if you're signed up for yarn club you're in for a treat.

A couple of yarns for the update this week... these can be found in the shop

'Pink Pearl' Australian Organic Merino - all of those little girls will be willing Mum/Auntie to knit them something in this colourway!  Miss 6 has been eyeing the colour up - its her favourite!

'Southern Cross' - A new offering from Charlisa Yarns, Laceweight - 70% Baby Alpaca, 30% Mulberry Silk - this is the ultimate in luxury yarn - soft and silky.  The most gorgeous light silver colours.  This yarn can be knitted in the single to produce a delicate garment, or knitted 2 stranded to produce a lovely finished garment - slightly thinner than sock-weight.

Happy Knitting! x

Fresh Yarn and Market News...

Another busy week of finalising a knitting pattern for Christmas Gift Yarn Club, and some hand-dyeing.  Here's the 2 colourways up for offer in the shop this week.  

Australian Organic Merino in Ocean blues - 'Gt Ocean Road' colourway (I have to say I popped the skeins in with the last one of 'Mt Baw Baw' the greys that I put up on the last update - oh my!  The 2 colourways look so good together...  If I had time to make a Stephen West shawl (well known for his fabulous designs using colour) I'd have nabbed them for myself!

and Blue Faced Leicester in some rather lovely emerald greens 'Daintree' colourway.  Unfortunately the photograph doesn't do it justice as green is the hardest colour to photograph true to life - the dark greens are much darker and the emerald greens much brighter, this is a good unisex colourway - pair of socks for the man in your life?...

I've also dyed up the second installment of Christmas Gift Yarn Club... but that's a secret so I'm not going to spoil that for anyone... 

I've been out and about checking out local markets to see which one suits my products the best and have decided on St Andrew's Market.  It is on every week, but to start with I will be a casual stallholder - probably aiming to attend once every 3-4 weeks from the first weekend in October, but more often closer to Christmas.  I'll post up dates when I will be attending as soon as I schedule the dates.  I didn't manage to get any photographs of the lovely market, which is in the countryside in a woodland setting, as I was trying to wrangle a rather muddy 2 year old who was being unreasonable and shouting 'I NEED CAKE!' at the top of his voice.  Needless to say he won't be helping me out at the market!  All profits would be spent immediately on cake!  

First Installment of Christmasy Goodness...

The first installment shipped last week of the Christmas Gift Yarn Club here's a sneak peak of what the lucky club members got... a yummy skein of Blue Faced Leicester sock yarn in limited edition colourway 'Barossa'

And a knitting pattern for Jillaroo socks - yes there are cables and lace in there - a good introduction pattern to both.  Very fast and simple knit in a top-down construction.

I still have a few spaces left for yarn club for those who were waiting for a sneak peak of what is on offer, but be quick - I will be taking any unsold down by the end of next week.

Happy Knitting!

Fresh Yarn!

I have spent the week elbow deep in dyes and yarn - my idea of heaven!  The first installment of Christmas Gift Yarn Club is ready to ship.  There are still a few spaces left, I will leave these on Etsy as I have extra packages ready to go if anyone decides to go for it after they see the first installment.


This week's yarn update is only a small one of one colour because of all of the craziness of yarn club - Australian Organic Merino - colourway 'Mt Baw Baw'.  I was inspired colourwise by the mountains - its the tail end of the ski season here ... sadly we haven't made it to the mountains this year due to me & the kids all taking it in turns to be ill all Winter!  Also, it is Father's Day on Sunday and what better way to celebrate than with a pair of hand-knitted socks in a colour that is a bit more masculine than the usual colourways?  Although I have to say that I do particularly like the soft greys of this colourway and it would also make a beautiful shawl. Was very tempted to use it all myself and not list it ;o)

If anyone is looking for a custom dye-job of 3 to 6 skeins please feel free to convo or message me - I am happy to cater to your requirements.

Christmas Gift Yarn Club closing soon...

Spaces for Christmas Gift Yarn Club are selling out.  First installment ships this friday - very exciting!  I have a wonderful colour yarn and pattern for you - so grab a spot whilst they're still there :o)  

Some of those that were at the Knit August Nights event in Napier, New Zealand will have had a sneaky preview of my yarn and some of the patterns from the club.   

I have had a lovely weekend dyeing up a storm!  Off this morning to get goodies to go in the parcels for the Christmas Knitters!  The sun is shining so I think some more dyeing will be happening in the Charlisa studio today!

Crazy Lady Cardi...

So my Crazy Lady Cardi has sat finished for about 10 days - its taken that long for me to get around to getting a photo of it as I've been elbow deep in dyes and knitting patterns leading up to the start of Christmas Knitting Pattern and Yarn Club - first installment of which will be shipped at the end of this week... v. exciting!!  Anyway was very impressed to get a whole cardi out of 130g of laceweight handspun!

Fresh Yarn is up in the etsy store - some bright colours to warm up this chilly Winter's day!

Frangipani - pinks, yellows and rosy orange

Jabiru - emeralds and plums - would look so fab as a pair of socks or hand-woven!

Am madly knitting and charting designs for Christmas Gift Yarn Club.  

I've also taken some time out from charting and knitting my own designs to knit a pattern with some of my hand-spun yarn - Tapan Zee Cardigan by Amy King.  My yarn is spun to laceweight but I reckon you'd get away with sock-weight yarn if you wanted to knit it up with Charlisa Yarns :o)  Here's my cardi so far... The rest of the yarn is a green colour that you can't see very well on the photo but is a pale green same as the colour above the yellow on the knitting...  

Happy Knitting!!  Sarah

Christmas Gift Yarn Club

Christmas Gift Yarn Club has gone on sale!  For 3 months (Sep, Oct and Nov) subscribers will receive a skein of Charlisa Yarns exclusive hand-painted yarn and a knitting pattern.  The knitting patterns will remain exclusive to yarn club for 6 months before being released.  Places are limited so jump onto the Etsy store now to secure your place.  Its a great way to sort your Christmas gift knitting - or to treat yourself...

Due to illness there was no yarn update last week, however, I will be in my workshop today dyeing up some yummy new colourways to brighten up the cold Winters day so look out for the store update on Tuesday next week.

Bendigo Sheep & Wool Show

My daughter & I escaped to Bendigo last weekend - we had a fibre-filled day at the Australian Sheep & Wool Show (the 134th year of it!) is where everything sheep and wool is on show... 

We had a great time watching the Sheep Dog trials and the sheep judging.  There was a petting farm for the kids and a few rides, but mainly for me there were shed-fulls of yarn, fibre suppliers and equipment.  We're already plotting our next trip next year!

Miss 6 turned her hand to weaving at a couple of stands and showed quite a flair for it!

 

We watched a bit of sheep judging... very interesting as they explained why which particular sheep won

We wandered round the fibre/yarn stalls buying some beautiful fibre

More weaving!!  Miss 6 is smitten!

Bit of sheep shearing - wouldn't be an Aussie sheep show without it!

Ahhh!