A finished object at last!

Firstly, a huge thank you to all those who have left your kind comments here! I really get such a thrill that you have taken the time and trouble to wade through my ramblings. Being new to the blogging game, I am uncertain on the etiquette for comments - whether to answer each personally, off-screen or on. I have chosen not to answer individually (it is my blog after all, and I can set, or change, the rules!) but please know that I do read them all and appreciate each and every one! If this contravenes any unwritten blog-law, please let me know. I am, or try to be, a law-abiding citizen after all!

I haven't been totally non-fibrecrafty lately. No,
I have actually finished my long drawn-out Embossed Leaves Socks by Mona Schmidt
They have taken me a fair while, not because they were difficult, but because I didn't feel like knitting much of the time. Not sure why, just couldn't be bothered. I'm sure you get like that sometimes, too. Anyway, here they are. I knitted them out of Opal sock yarn - Petticoat 1290. I'm not sure if I really like the colours myself (I tend to prefer blues, reds, pinks and purples) but I think my daughter, K, likes them so she may be the recipient. We have the same sized feet which makes it really easy to knit socks for her!

I am now playing around with a gorgeous, hand painted wool/angora blend yarn by Marnie Kelly of Touch Yarns here in NZ. It is soooo soft and really nice to knit with. I bought it at an Open Day held by another spinning group about 18 months ago. Marnie had a jersey (sweater/jumper/pullover/whatever!) on display with the pattern and yarn as a kit. But the pattern doesn't include a picture of the jersey! I can't really remember what it looked like apart from liking it. So this could be a rather wonderful journey for me!

I don't think the pattern sizes are quite large enough for me (no, I'm not HUGE - just a tad overweight :) ) so I was a very good girl and tried out a gauge swatch yesterday. Yes, I know, the cable on the left is wrong at the bottom - I wasn't reading the pattern correctly - but it is good enough to give me an idea if I can use this pattern. It calls for 300 gm of this yarn (see - it is sooo light and soft!) and I have 400 gm. Enough for some size leeway, do you think? I will give the sample a little bath and check the stitches per inch after that.

This pattern also calls for knitting the jersey in pieces. It shouldn't be too difficult to translate into the round. I really dislike seaming if I can get away with it. I may change the sleeve pattern, too, not too sure at this point. Will there be anything left of the original pattern? Probably enough that I won't claim it as my own, never fear!

I still have a pile of white mohair fleece I washed last week, along with another pile of black huacaya alpaca I washed as well, sitting in my "craft" room waiting for me to do something with them. Still heaps more to wash too. The mohair was a little disappointing - rather short and smelly, as only goat can be! I thought that maybe I could rainbow dye some and card it with something else. Wool of some kind, probably. I wonder if this would work? Kind of make little blobs of colour in the spun yarn.

I thought I would card up the alpaca with a little angora (I've had this sitting around for ages and after knitting with the Touch yarn I really want to try it out) and some sort of wool. I will try out a test batt, anyway, and see what I think about it. I have plenty of alpaca hanging around here to that I can "waste" some sampling. Boy, was it dirty, though! Must have really been having some good dust baths. If I didn't know better I could have sworn the dye was coming out - but it is a natural black colour!

One last thing, perhaps someone can tell me (a person with very little blog/computer knowledge!) how one goes about writing with a line through the letters (strikethrough). There doesn't seem to be a button or shortcut here. Just curious, and you never know when the knowledge may come in useful!