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!