New Pattern Release

April has brought with it a new pattern release - Boomerang Shawl - just in time for the Northern Hemisphere's summer time... This was installment 2 of the Charlisa Yarns Christmas Gift Yarn Club from 2012 which is now on general release to non-club members. A nice easy knit designed for laceweight yarn in an easily remembered pattern - would be an ideal first lace project.

The pattern is available from my Ravelry Store and also my Etsy Store (if you have a Ravelry account its better to purchase on there as you get updates if there are any made in the future of the pattern).

I've also finished a few projects that I've had on the go...

namely Miss 6's Zeg Warmers and my Schoolhouse Tunic - my first attempt at a machine sewn garment.  I was really pleased with how both came out.

And now I have my very first handspun sock yarn (VP from the pencil roving - I 3-plyed it and its come out lovely - just trawling this afternoon for a basic sock pattern that I can knit it up with:

WIP's

After my last blog - ha ha - I somehow started a whole raft of projects... so much for having too many unfinished items!!  I haven't had any time to do any pattern designing or hand-dyeing of yarn or fibre but am hoping maybe over Easter I might get some time to dye.

I have finished Miss 6's Cinnamon - she is very pleased with the finished cardi.

I've started a new crochet blanket.  As its been very hot here & the chevron blanket I am already working has got very bulky (am only half-way through it) and has to sit on my knee whilst I work on it - its a bit too warm on a 30C+ degree day to work on so I have shelved it until we get some real, continuous Autumn weather.  Granny squares will be a bit easier to deal with until the weather cools right down...  The pattern I am working from is Granny Square with Circle Centre pattern by Blair Stocker - a free pattern available on Ravelry and I'm very pleased with the squares so far...  I will have to make a lo-ot of squares for a king single sized blanket - lets hope I have bought enough yarn!

I've also started a new knitting pattern since I finished one - I'm knitting a pair of Georgie Hallam's Zeg Warmers (leg warmers with a zig zag pattern on them) for Miss 6 who has a penchant for leggings with socks in the Winter months which I think look yuk!  Nice pair of leg-warmers to wear over the top will be warm & a bit more stylish.  I'm knitting with VP Max - first time using this yarn from one of my favourite yarn dyers - lovely.

I'm also still working on Mr 2 (now Mr 3!)'s quilt - just have to do the edging of the quilt now so it should be finished this weekend - hurrah - that means I can start another quilting project...

Jillaroo General Release

After a couple of months of physio I am happy to say I'm 'fighting-fit' - or should I say 'knitting-fit'!!  Hurrah!  To celebrate I started knitting up the pattern Cinnamon (a girl's cardi) for Miss 6 this week.

The Jillaroo sock pattern that was the 1st installment of the Christmas Gift Yarn Club in 2012 is now on general release - you can buy it on Ravelry or through my etsy store

This week's craft group was a bit sobering for me - not the company - some lovely ladies and a good chat and giggle is always had - but a lady had died and left her crafting projects/items - boxes full as I'm sure we all have kicking around the house... anyway it was all kindly passed onto the group but there were many many UFO's in there which got me to thinking what would happen if I dropped dead tomorrow? - I have umpteen various projects on the go at once - all of which I consider important to finish.  How sad to see this lady's unfinished projects sat in boxes all of her ideas & items she wanted to make - I am going to make a concerted effort to organise my projects better and try - ha ha! and do one project at a time in future.

Talking of multiple projects - oops! I bought some lovely cotton fabrics today at the discount table... I am thinking clothing for next Summer for Miss 6...

First Project of the Year...

So as part of my 'Happines Project' and my year of doing what I want, I have always wanted to crochet a blanket... I started a week ago to make a Chevron Blanket in grey and yellow - these colours seem to be very in right now & are the colours of our spare bedroom...  I am aiming for it to fit a Queen bed - the spare bed.  The project certainaly won't be portable for much longer - it was hard to work on it at Knitting Group last night...

Happiness...

Firstly Happy New Year!  We had a very hectic Christmas and holiday time but managed a quick beach break to the very beautiful Port Fairy.  The photo was taken Xmas Eve.

Last year was an incredibly busy and difficult year for me - we moved from New Zealand to Australia, the kids needed settling into a new country and a new way of life and so did we!  I had to try and build a network over here from scratch which is still an ongoing process.  We bought a newly built house, did a load of work to it, landscaped a garden from scratch and I started Charlisa Yarns...  It makes me feel tired just thinking about it all - and I am truly glad to see the back of 2012!

So here's the thing... I ran myself ragged last year and made myself ill on several occasions. My son doesn't do 2 days a week of childcare like he did in NZ which enabled me to work on patterns, creating items etc., however, I carried on as if he did, trying to cram so much into the year.  So here I am this year with 3 free hours a week once Mr 2 turns 3... to do all of the weekly chores and run a business.  Like trying to fix a square peg into a round hole - it just won't go.  I realised that I wasn't spending the time I needed to on the kids and I was ending up frazzled trying to do everything that I wanted to do and look after the kids at the same time then getting frustrated because I'd not achieved what I wanted.  

I am parring back on things for 2013.  The etsy stores will still remain open...  I will be dyeing as and when I get the opportunity rather than on a regular day.  Pattern designing will happen as and when I get the time. I will be attending Laurimar Town Fair on 9th February 2013, but as for going to St Andrew's Market - that is on hold pending me fixing a shoulder injury as there's a lot of lifting involved in setting up my stall and I am under the physio at the mo!   Once I get more time and the shoulder is fixed, regular dyeing will resume as will the markets.

I'm dedicating this year to my Happiness Project - I, as all Mums do, spend my time running myself ragged to make sure everyone else in the family close & extended is happy.  This year I decided to do it differently - stuff wasting my time worrying about and running around after other people trying to make sure they are happy (obviously the kids & hubby are exempt from this!  I am not that ruthless ;o) ), stuff wasting time on Facebook, stuff time consuming mess and disorganization. Its all about making sure I take the time to look after myself.  Hence the physio that I have put off despite not sleeping a full night for a year due to pain!  I am taking the time to organise my life and have a clear out, make sure my health is sorted, get into a fitness regime and to enjoy the kids & hubby. 

Happy knitting/crocheting! x

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!