Starts and Finishes February 2023

February 6, 2023

Hi Fellow Knitters,

Happy New Year to all, and may all your craft projects in 2023 bring you and the recipient much pleasure.

Ferg and I are home from holidays. First we were at North Avoca NSW for Christmas week, home for a while, then to Valla Beach for a week.

Anchors Wharf Cafe. Urunga NSW

On Australia Day Ferg, George (maker of Rotating Yarn Butlers) and I, lunched at the seafood restaurant Anchors Wharf Cafe, Urunga, NSW. We enjoyed seeing groups of families and friends gathered together along the banks of the Kalang River. The river was alive with all sorts of water craft plus a few dolphins.

Between North Avoca and Valla Beach, I finished the Almost Log Cabin Blanket. I joined the blocks with a dark grey using the three needle join-up method, then knitted the border also in the dark grey. The photo shows the blanket on the single bed at the Valla Beach house. This room contains this bed with a trundle bed underneath as well as bunk beds - a room for cousins to share. I am super pleased with this blanket.

Scrap yarn ready to knit a domino pattern blanket

I needed a new project to take with me to Valla Beach. I decided on a Domino Pattern blanket made entirely from left-over multi-coloured yarn. That was the intention, however while on a day trip to Kurrajong in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, I called in on Sharon and Val in Sharon's shop Fibre Frolic and came away with two balls of multi-coloured Noro. It just called to me. Ferg laughed, as he claims that I always buy a little extra when I am meant to use only left-over yarn.

I am working the Domino pattern with three sizes of squares. The largest begins with 61 stitches (30 on sides plus one for the corner). Middle size 31 stitches (4 = 1 large). Smallest size 21 stitches (9 = 1 large). The smallest squares allow me to use-up quite small scraps of yarn. The blanket on the right is Tessellations. It is also knitted using three sizes of squares, but unlike my current project the squares are aligned in a regular pattern.

The Yarn Hub Waratah Fibres & Yarns

It is pleasant to remember all the knitted items, made over many years, that produced all this left-over yarn. Almost as good a a photo album.