Just arrived today after 8 weeks on the boat – Araucania Ranco Multy in 5 pretty colours – usual RRP is $25 – my price – only $16 per skein!

Get them while they last – I’m loving a crochet lacy shawl

or scarf for this yarn,

or maybe I’ll actually crochet some socks with it!

A basket for the Easter Bunny!

Crochet this adorable basket for easter as an alternative to giving chocolate or for somewhere to put all thos eggs!  Free pattern from LionBrand.com – choose any wool/acrylic/cotton you desire. Plain colours work best.

This project is very good for practising your increasing/decreasing skills in crochet as well as crocheting in the round.

COST:  FREE ! (materials not included)

TIME:  Every Saturday morning in March, 9am to 10am

LOCATION:  American Yarns, Shop 3, 265 Blaker Road, Grovely, Brisbane, Australia, 4054

Click Here for more crochet-alongs

Along with the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Knits, the UPS man also dropped off five copies of a special issue mag – “Knitting Traditions”.

The blurb says:

Indulge your passion for knitting with Knitting Traditions! This 148-page special publication from PieceWork magazine presents more than 40 projects—socks, shawls and scarves, items for baby, a variety of hand coverings, hats,  squares and edgings, and finger puppets—each with a story that provides historical context. Here are just a few examples: Peruvians used a technique—knitting’s precursor—called cross looping or needleknitting to fashion exquisite, tiny figures, using cactus thorns as needles, between 200 B.C. and A.D. 200. Fourteenth-century Italian artists painted pictures of the Madonna knitting. A glove with a romantic history knitted in Sweden during the sixteenth-century is preserved in a museum. Swedish knitters have been using the two-end technique since at least the seventeenth century. By the mid-eighteenth century, Russian shawls from Orenburg achieved international status. Prolific Victorian knitters fashioned all sorts of knitted items in the nineteenth century. German designers were producing hundreds of patterns for “art knitting” in the early decades of the twentieth century. And a veritable “Who’s Who” of late-twentieth- and early-twenty-first-century knitting designers share their passion within these pages!

The UPS man just arrived to deliver the Spring 2010 issue of Interweave Knits.

Had a quick flick through – I’m loving the:

Corona Camisole which is knitted in Kollage Yarns Corntastic – available from me by special order.  The price is $9 for a 100m/50g ball

And the Hopscotch Jumper.  Knitted in Tahki Cotton Classic, but Patons Grace is a good substitute.  Also Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece – 80% cotton, 20% wool.

And finally, the Wasabi Pea Socks – uses Shibuiknits sock but would look just fab in my lime green Araucania Ranco at only $16 for 344m/100g!

I am in the process of offering crochet-alongs for my customers and after reading a few other blogs, got the idea to offer a 12 month crochet-along calendar to inspire you at different times throughout the year.

If you are in Brisbane, you’re welcome to come along to a FREE class in-store.  They’ll be on saturday mornings from 9am to 10am.  If you’re not nearby, you are of course welcome to participate online!  I am in the process of working on an avatar/JPG/button for you to post on your blog.  You can come back and post links to your blog after you’ve completed each project if you like.

The patterns I am choosing can all be found on, or as links on, Ravelry.com.  I have themed each project on the song “12 days of Christmas” and it is rhymed along woth the first line – “On the first day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…”.

My projects start with:  “In the first month of crocheting, I made from Ravelry…”

So come along and join in the fun – we’d love to see you!

I bought this beautiful machine a year ago, but have been so busy with ’stuff’ and ‘life’ that I haven’t had a chance to photograph it yet and share with you all what a wonderful find it is!

I bought from an Ebay seller here in Brisbane (he is an estate sale merchant).  I paid $300 for this machine which literally, had never been used!  It is circa 1979, making it over 30 years old.  Some of you seasoned machine knitters might remark that I am crazy, BUT I think I got a wonderful machine for my money, as you will soon see why…  (Click on the pictures for a description which explains why it is a ‘new’ machine).

The name plate on the front of the hard case

Everything is still covered in plastic or has the packing materials – the cardboard box has styrofoam supports (still okay by the way!)  The original (now yellowed) packing paper was still there, as was the protective foam insert in the accessories box and the cardboard protectors inside the hard case.

Singer 322 - Tension Dial

Even the tension dial still had its clear vinyl covering!

The Singer 322 Knit radar

The 322 has an in-built Knit Radar.  On previous and subsequent models, it was an optional extra.  Comes with some really cool paper patterns for men, women and children – even cute little knitted pants and dresses for toddlers!

The pristine needle bed

Not a drop of oil, dust, dirt or fibres to be found!

Singer 322 accessories box

Everything is here – the oil bottle has never been cut – everything is still in its plastic!

The needle retainer bar (sponge bar) has had it and I will have to get it replaced.  I have given everything an oil and clean as per the instruction book.

I am really looking forward to knitting my first garment on my machine!  So excited!

I would soooo live here!

I sit here dejected.  Why??  I started off knitting some pants for my 4 year old on my Bond Ultimate Sweater Machine from a pattern I bought on the net.  Instructions were great, even if the number of cast-on stitches was off.  Got half-way through one leg and just after I did the short rows (I don’t know why I need them – she’s not in nappies anymore – next time I will skip that step), I was on the continuing row of the pattern and my bl*&^dy machine knitted off all the stitches!!  Aaarrrggghhh!!!

So, I thought, don’t panic, just rehang the piece and continue on – no such luck – stitches started to unravel, so I thought, “Okay, just re-hang after the ribbing and away you go!”

But noooooo,  managed to rehang after the ribbing, but then my bl*&^dy machine knitted the piece off again!  Double ARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

It gets worse.  Gave up – and frogged back to the beginning.  Only now, I can’t get the e-wrap cast-on to work – the carriage keeps knitting the stitches off so the piece just falls to the floor.  I am sure it has to do with my tension and not letting the needles catch properly at the beginning of the row.  Have given up – will try again tomorrow.

I WILL get these pants done if its the last thing I do!!

The Cotton Fleece colours I blogged about in yarn substitutions, for the Moorish Mosaic Afghan are now in-store.  They look great together!

OMG, I’m so excited!  My bargain-basement priced Araucania Ranco Solid is here!  Yay!

I’ve waited two months for it to arrive and now you can get excited too because instead of $25 per 100g skein, you will only pay $16.50!  That’s a huge 35% off!

I have 5 gorgeous colours available which I will be listing very soon!

Araucania Ranco is a lovely, soft, kettle-dyed Chilean sock-weight wool blended with polyamide for stretch and resilience.  100g skeins, 344m per skein – one skein is enough for one pair of adult women’s socks.  Needle size is 3.25mm.

Here are some freebie patterns which could be knitted with this lovely yarn:

Monkey, by Cookie A.

Lace Ribbon Scarf, by Veronik Avery