Archive for February, 2009

Knit and Spin

Knit and Spin

So as I said in my last post I had more spinning to done. So It all started with Christmas for which I got from my dear friend Daniel (blog coming soon) among other things this beautiful alpaca top from this fabulous shop(I really can’t believe that I am going to give away this top secret) Ewe Give Me The Knits based in Austraila.

riverinabluebellalpacatop

This is some of her hand dye which you have to wait up and stalk the the site obsessively when you find out she is doing an update(she alerts you via her rav group) and literally the first top will start and you will have a frenzy of the shark like spinners going for their tops, you find the one you wanted click on it a four others that you think are pretty and then check out to find that two of them disappeared from your order snatched away in the last moments from your cart. That’s okay though because that’s why you put four in your cart.  Then you get it and realize that Mandie has dyed your yarn by mixing crack in with the dye and a bit of LSD too, it is nearly impossible to spin up just a little bit of this wool you MUST SPIN IT ALL!

riverinabluebellalpaca

This was my first experience with EGMTK and I have to say I was addicted, I mean I ‘m a sucker for  alpaca to begin with but this this was absolute divine goodness, it was like angel alpaca. So soft drafted like a bloody dream, and ZOMG amazing colours. When it came to plying I knew I wanted to ply it with something else cause I wanted max meterage, problem was I had no other wool to ply spin with and I was stuck. A forage through my stash for other purposes came up with a 800g cone of aqua sock wool a friend scored from the sallies. AH-HA! I took that out and ran it quickly through the wheel to give it some extra twist, let it sit for a bit then plied it all together.

otsegolake1

otsegolake2

I named this Otsego Lake because it reminded me of swimming in the lake at dusk and the angle of the sun and colours in the sky on a calm night looked as if they were coming from the lake it’s self. I ended up getting about 300 meters out of it and decided that I wanted it to be a simple scarf, so soon as it dried  I balled it up and started knitting. I decided to use my favorite stitch seed stitch so that it would show off the beautiful colours so well.

waterlily

I am so happy with the way it look sI often find myself staring at it and going my how pretty it is… I have about a 45cm done on it and it keeps growing. It is sooo soft too, I just can’t believe it.  I renamed the scarf water lily because it reminds me so much of Monet’s work around his gardens. I have more to talk about but i will leave that for another post, I have a new WIP to show off and a lace one none the less!

You Spin Me Right Round!!!!

You Spin Me Right Round!!!!

So I have been doing a lot of spinning lately, well it all started when Ryan had given me some beautiful roving, it just begged to be spun up. and so being an obedient slave to wool I did just that.

agsouthpacific1

agsouthpacific2

It cam out probably between aran and bulky weight and really cool  looking it’s just a 2 ply.  I’ve knit a hat with it but it’s a present for a friend who I don’t know if they read this blog so I”ll share it with you later when she has it. This is Anna Gratton’s South Pacific and boy is it pretty I kinda want to get 1200grams of it so I can knit a jacket with it but maybe that’s a bit much….

P.S. You may have noticed also that I have redesigned the blog AGAIN, I think this one will stick a bit longer I’m really happy with it.

Kaha, and Tapu Te Ranga

Kaha, and Tapu Te Ranga

If any of you also read Ryan’s blog, you will have read that  we recently(Jan 23rd – 25th) went to a hui(conference).  This was a wonderful, magical hui  like I have never been on before (and I have been on maybe 43+ conferences in my past). I was amazed at how many people were there I think in the end we had 159 people most of those seemed to be under 25.  This group was an amazing group of people who had a lot in common and a lot of things that held them apart. There were no issues or complaints from most of the people, and it appeared that almost everyone(if not everyone had fun.

So what made this such and awesome hui compared to the others I have been at? Well I have a few ideas…

First was location, the beautiful Tapu Te Ranga Marae.

taputeranga

This is an absolutely wonderful and amazing place to be for any reason. If you happen to also be in a position where you are staying at the Marae then please consider yourself lucky.  Tapu Te Ranga was the first marae I have been  on and it did not disappoint me in any manner.

For my non Kiwi readers a marae is is a sacred place which serves both religious and social purposes. ” It generally consists of an area of cleared land roughly rectangular (the marae itself), bordered with stones or wooden posts perhaps with terraces (paepae) which were used in olden times for ceremonial purposes; and with a central stone ahu or a’u. In  modern  Māori society the marae is still a vital part of everyday life. The closest parallel I can bring to it from America is the reservations that my people and other indigenous tribe wer placed into. The key difference is that a marae is a place chosen by and built by the Maori  as a spiritual home and a place that they can continue to connect with the earth in ways that they cannot connect in modern society. Meanwhile the Native Americans were forced onto small parts of tiny bits of land that were (usually but not always) far from their homes, they were considered “gifts” from the government for “mistreatment”.

It was really a great place to have such an amazing hui, because when you walked onto the land you could feel the positive energy and good spirits. These both only grew as the hui continued, and over all I feel like we all left on sunday afternoon with a lot more pride than we had to begin with and a sense of purpose. It was the begining of a great force to change the world led by the next generation and man you better watch out cause they are feirce!

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