Silk, merino, glitz and bunny OH MY!

 The fiber was from a Batt Club from Jane at Moseley Park

 I chose a simple pattern to show off the beauty of this yarn.

Josephine shawl

I added a crochet shell edge.

Spin, weave, sew

 Romney X fleece from Lucinvale.

Spun and plied on itself. 

I spun mostly from the fold of the lock.

Woven on an Ashford Knitters loom into fabric.

 Sewn into little drawstring bags.

Embellished with crochet flowers also from handspun yarn.

 Amazing how much I get done when I'm not surfing the web for inspiration!

From fleece, to yarn, to skirt

 There is great satisfaction in taking a fleece.

Washing it, combing it, spinning it, 

washing the yarn and knitting it.

 To produce something wearable.

Pattern: Bryn Mawr skirt - Interweave Knits fall 2011

 I spun the fleece by grabbing handfuls at random and spinning from the lock.

This lead to the lovely variation in the colour.

The yarn was plied on it self.

The fleece was incredibly soft a Finn X cross from Lucinvale.

 

 Now at 59kg, I am working on maintaining my weight.

I bought size 9 jeans from Jeanswest yesterday.

I finally found jeans tight enough in the legs with enough room for the mummy tummy.

Sunny mornings

Good Morning Readers.

I rolled out of bed at 6:30am this morning and took myself for a jog around the block. Half way around I was crying! Not because I was sad but because I was happy! I've come so far in the last 8 months both physically and mentally.

This mornings revelation on my run was that the vacant spot inside, I'd been filling so long with food, approval from others and stuff, was filled. That hole had been a lack of self worth,  self appreciation and self esteem.

Some interesting reading on Approval Addiction ....
Approval Addiction Keeps Us Trapped
Approval Addiction how to end the need to please

I feel so good inside and outside. I can now give myself the love and approval I need. The blog was part of my 'Need To Please'. Removing the comments and followers was necessary for me, I had to stop medicating myself with my Readers approval.

I started my weight loss journey to look better and improve my physical health. I've done so much more than that. I've learned to love myself. I've learned to accept myself, to be proud of me.
Losing weight might of seemed like the hardest thing to do at the beginning but it has been the best thing I have ever done for myself.

Ok, enough of the deep and meaningful!

This weeks crafting:

 I knitted Heather a vest. 

I've often admired this type of vest pattern

but couldn't bring myself to buy it as I knew it was so easy 

so I came up with my own version.

 Heather is growing up.

She loves anything electronic.

 I added some wavy lace for interest.

I'm really happy how this turned out. 

I worked this in the round from the top down.

The back is higher than the front as I think garments sit better.

I worked a few extra rows after the yoke on the back before joining back in the round.

 This is Joe's fleece from the Moseley Park Fibre Club.

All spun up. I spun some very fine and some think and plied the two together,

 Another Moseley park Fibre Club, this one Silk and Alpaca.

It has a beautiful drape and sheen.

And this is a single yarn spun from one of Kathy's plaits.

It had the colourway name of Peter Pan and I think it was silk and merino.

I  fulled the yarn, this gives it added strength.

Knitting with Hanspun

 Pattern: Shrug This

Heavily modified.

I made it longer, used 8mm needles,

and I added some shaping to the bottom.

 I knitted the top in some of my handspun yarn.

The yarn was spun from one of Jane's beautiful blended batts.

I used one of Spinningwoodies handmade buttons.

Fibre clubs.

EL spun from the lock and plied with itself.

 June's Fibre clubs are all spun up.

I loved spinning both.

EL spun in the lock letting the tips hang out. Plied with silk

Incredibly soft angora bunny and silk.

Suri Alpaca and silk. Oh so yummy.

One of Kathy's beautiful batts plied with EL X Merino from Jane.

Another of Kathy's batt plied with EL from Jane

We are loving school holidays here.

Fiber club goodness... June

English Leicester, carefully washed to preserve staple

 Jane is running two fibre clubs at present.

One is a natural Fibre club and the other Dyed.

 The July installment arrived yesterday.

I need to get some photos of it later.

My wheel has been packed away of late.

Heather is fascinated with it and likes to stretch out the springs!

Thanks to the lovely Kathy, who sent me a couple of replacement springs,

I should soon be spinning away again.

English Leicester Locks and dyed Silk Cap

After my initial dislike of spinning silk, 

with lots of practice, I've come to enjoy it.

The more I practice the better I get.

My new project is...

HERE

With project BIG almost at goal I needed another challenge.

The stash of Hand spun yarn is increasing quicker than I can knit it

I need to find some of it a new home,

and more space for all my fluff!

New yarns

 One of Kathy's beautiful batts plied with some of her dyed silk tops.

My spinning is really starting to get there.

I'm really pleased with my progress in learning to spin.

I'm self taught using the internet, videos and books.

 My sister told my mum...

"Tracy can do anything when she sets her mind to it."

I was rather taken back by the compliment.

Donna was referring to my weight loss.

I've always doubted my own abilities but now I'm starting to believe she's right!

 Some of Jane's El X Merino fleece plied with Romney Ball from Kathy.

 I'm building up a fine stash of handspun yarns.

Might be time to think about passing on the pleasure and having a give away soon.

I learnt a new term ..

SABLE Stash Acquisition Beyond Life Expectation! 

I wonder if my hoarding of 'stuff' is related to my weight?

A little snap shot of where I am on my weight loss journey.

Yep, that is 27cms off my waist! and 11cms off EACH thigh!

I still can't believe I am doing it!

I have a fine yarn to tell you...

If you could have a dream come true and it meant

spending an hour a day working on it, would you do it?

Merino spun fine

 I'm spending an hour a day making my dream come true.

I call it Project Big.

It was a BIG project but now it's not so BIG.

 

 I started Project Big on 02 February this year.

When I started I wasn't sure I could complete it.

It was a huge project.

Project Big was inspired by Bronnie a long time and dear friend.

Bronnie has encouraged me and kept me on track.

I started Project Big after a phone call one Sunday morning.

Bronnie is the sort of friend you can spend 3 hours on the phone with 

and never run out of anything to say.

This particular Sunday we were talking about our dreams,

for ourselves and our kids.

Our dream was to be the best mothers we could be.

The mothers who would be the role models our children need us to be.

 After the battery ran out on the phone I put it down and went to my computer and took a huge step towards making my dream come true.

I joined Weight Watchers Online.

Seven children in 12 years had been my excuse for not addressing my health needs.

For letting my fitness decline and my waistline increase.

NO MORE EXCUSES

It was time to be the mum I wanted to be.

A fit energetic mum.

A mum who can chase and catch her toddlers.

A mum  without the health concerns obesity brings.

A mum who will be here (god willing) to see her grandbabies born.

My dream is almost complete.

And all it has taken is around an hour a day.

An hour a day is nothing to pay for health and wellbeing 

and the chance to see my grandbabies

Now I eat well and exercise each day.

I spend an hour a day exercising a gift to myself and my family.

I no longer use the excuse I'm too busy to look after me.

I know I can never be too busy to look after one of the most 

important persons in my childrens lives.

Peter has held my hand and joined me.

He is looking fabulous too.

By changing what I cooked, reducing portions and encouraging him to exercise.

He too has regained his health and fitness.

I can now run for 30 minutes.

I never thought I could, 

I smile at myself in the mirror at the gym as I run on that treadmill.

I'm so proud of myself.

I've thrown out all my BIG clothes.

I'm not going to show you photos yet.

I still have a few weeks to go.

So make sure you come back in about 6 weeks 

so I can show you the results of Project Big.

More EL X Merino yarn

I'm still working on spinning up the EL Merino Fleece

I bought from Jane at Moseley Park

I spun this skein finer than the bulky weight I spun last time.

I'm planning on a knitted scarf with this.

I was careful in the spinning of the singles.

I split each batt in half and used half in each skein in the same order.

This resulted in long repeats of colour with some smaller sections of overlap.

I think it should knit up with large stripes of colour.

Fibre!!!!!

 A little trip to Littlehampton resulted in a few fibre purchases.

The Adelaide Hills Spinners and Weaver Guild had their open day and I went along.

I bought two beautiful handmade spindles, 

both are rim weighted and spin perfectly.
Ron (Spinningwoodie) Made these beauties.

There was so much beautiful fibre to choose from.

I was spoiled for choice.

I bought batts, plaits, Alpaca, wool, angora bunny, merino and silk blends, 

BFL blends, weaving shuttles. .......

Rose, Heather and I had a little holiday in Hahndorf.

We had a lot of fun and met up with Nanny for a day.

Slouchy Berret

 There is something so satisfying in taking a raw fibre.

Washing, dying, carding, spinning and finally knitting it.

It's magic really, transforming fibre to a usable item.

 This is EL X Merino, which I blogged about here.

The pattern was based on Spring Beret by Natalie Larson

I did modify a little as my yarn was bulky weight. 

I knitted with 8 mm needles and casted on 52 stitches, 

I had to tweak the number of stitches for the lace pattern.

 The lace pattern was simple enough not to be lost in the texture of the yarn.

Rose was kind enough to model for me.

This is my hat so a little big on Rose.

Not only is Rose beautiful it turns out she sings beautifully too!

And has won a solo in the East Of The Ranges Choir.

I'm very proud of her.