How's everyone going on their wee Gidday Babies?  
Are you keeping up? 

I love that there are a number of people over on Ravelry who have got so excited by this pattern they've knit multiples! That is just awesome!  

I'm loving seeing all the colour combinations, it's been really interesting to see what other people have come up with. This week I've been working away on my full size sample for the full pattern range. My testers are all just about finished so I envisage the pattern is probably only a week away..... as long as the model is co-operative! He tells me his Pirate Days are just beginning, so there is a chance I may need to resort to bribery. 

Did you knit your Gidday Baby in the White Gum Wool base? How absolutely lush is it?  I've been pretty set in using a grey for each of the bodies of my three, but I've used Fairy Wren, Everlasting and Hawthorn in the yokes. I love them all. Gum Grey is a stunning colour for babies. I love that it's not white, but yet has that traditional unisex feel to it. And I am totally in love with Augustbird's Pebbly Beach; such a glorious colour and  I am over the moon with the finished cardie. I have a jumper lot of Augustbird's White Gum Wool waiting to be knit up for me next! I am a bit excited about that. 

In this week's instalment we're going to be talking all things sleeves. There's quite a bit I want to get through today, so this could be long.  

First of all, let's talk about the options for knitting the sleeves. 

Small circumference knitting
I've mentioned before that I'm a big fan of small circumference needles and that is what I've used for this cardie.  For baby sizes such as this you really need the teeny  9"/23cm circulars that are available from Hiya Hiya. If you google "9" Hiya Hiya circular knitting needle" you should find an online store near you. Addi also makes excellent small circular needles but I think the 8"/20cm only goes up to a 3.75mm. Please correct me if I'm wrong. I do, however, have a whole collection of Addi 12"/30cm circulars that I use for knitting sleeves for larger kid sizes and even my size. I cannot tell you how much I love them!

They are perhaps a little fiddly when you're getting used to them, but they sure are a time saver. There is no stopping and starting and no ladders; one of the more frustrating aspects of other small circumference knitting options. 

Having said that, let's look at the other options. For some knitters, these may be the preferred option. Everyone is different, and my way may not be your way. I've provided online tutorial links for you to check out if you need to. 

Double pointed needles (dpns)
Knitters tend to have either a love or hate relationship with dpns.  
http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/double-pointed-needles?utm_source=related_videos&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=2-circular-needles

Magic Loop
This is probably the most common method.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/magic-loop?utm_source=related_videos&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=2-circular-needles

Two circular needles
Quite an easy method, don't feel daunted by the use of two needles. I find this an easier and less fiddly option than magic loop.
http://www.knittinghelp.com/video/play/2-circular-needles?utm_source=related_videos&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=magic-loop

Travelling or Single Loop
A lesser known option but a goody.
http://impeccableknits.wordpress.com/travelingloop/

Knitting the sleeve flat
While it's good to learn new techniques, for some knitters the good old flat knitting and seaming the sleeve is the preferred option. Later on in this post, I'll look at how you can adapt any sleeve pattern for flat knitting.

Picking up the underarm stitches
My approach to picking up underarm stitches does differ from some designers. I think the underarm pickup should be the complete process, I don't believe you should have to darn holes under the arm as part of the finishing process. That to me, is not great workmanship and no matter how neat you darn it always looks a bit, well, not so neat. Part of the problem, I believe is that patterns generally don't direct you to pick up enough stitches. Usually it's the same number as you've cast on under the arm, but that is not enough to close any gaps. Depending on whether I'm knitting a raglan or a circular yoke I might pick up anywhere between three and five stitches more than I cast on under the arm. This helps to close up any gaps and eliminate any unsightly holes. You can apply this approach to any pattern. 

Need a little refresher on picking up stitches?
Here's a great link for picking up along a cast on/off edge:
http://www.knittingdaily.com/blogs/howto/archive/2009/02/10/picking-up-stitches.aspx

Where to start
If you look at the photo above the big red arrow points to little bump left by the kfab stitch. The V which this arrow also points to is where you will pick up your second stitch from. Picking up the first stitch from this spot on a circular yoke can leave a bit of a gap. We don't want that. See the stitch I've marked with the pink stitch marker. Around there is where you want to pick up your first stitch. Note the stitch I've chosen to go in through is one with a small hole. Always chose the smaller hole option, picking up through a bigger hole won't close it up; it will emphasis it. We don't want that. 

When you're picking up stitches, make sure you pick up through the V of each stitch around the underarm, picking up through two strands of yarn. The yarn on your needle should look like this when you're picking up. 

Generally, when you're picking up these stitches if you pick up around to the stitch marked by the kfab you'll have the correct number. You'll recognise this stitch as it's the last obvious one to pick up. If you look closely it looks a bit different, a bit tighter and you can see the bump caused by the kfab. 

Sometimes though, this will leave you one stitch short of the required number to pick up. This will be the case for the 15" size, you still have to pick up one more stitch. You can pick up this stitch anywhere in the gap between the last picked up stitch and the needle, remembering to choose a smaller space to pick up through. What I do sometimes, however, is a little unconventional, but it works.

Imagine I've picked up around all the underarm stitches, (you need to imagine it, because unfortunately this photo below doesn't show those picked up stitches). There is still one stitch to be picked up. I've marked the stitch I pick up with a stitch marker. Note that I've marked the right leg of the stitch and it is the stitch next to the one on the needle. 

I slip this right leg back onto the left needle and knit it. Unconventional? Yes. Effective? Yes.

What I've shown you here is two different ways to pick up an extra stitch either side of the underarm stitches to help close gaps. You can choose either one, or use a mix of both like I do. It doesn't matter how you approach it, as long as you close up those gaps. As I've said before, there is no right or wrong way, just different techniques that may work better for some people. Play around with the way you approach this, if when you've picked up the stitch there's an obvious hole pull it off and try again.  

In the first round of knitting the sleeve stitches, you will notice that you knit a ssk and a k2tog. These also help with closing those underarm gaps, and are really the third step in the process. In this instance, I always slip both stitches of the ssk knit-wise. 

Tomorrow I'll talk about weaving in ends which will finish off the underarm beautifully but as you can already see there are no unsightly gaps or holes. Hooray! 

Knitting your sleeves flat
if you're taking the option of knitting the sleeves flat, and seriously, if you don't have a 20cm circular, I don't blame you, this is how you go about it. You can transfer this approach to any circular sleeve patter.

Row 1: (RS) Beginning in the middle of the underarm, pick up and knit half the stitches the pattern instructs you to. Knit across the sleeve stitches. Pick up the other half of the underarm sleeve stitches.

Row 2: (WS) purl to last picked up stitch, p2tog with the first of the original sleeve stitches. Purl to last original sleeve stitches. ssp the last stitch with the first of the picked up stitches, purl to end of row. (2 sts dec)

Continue to work the sleeve as instructed but knitting flat, so alternating knit and purl rows.
Work the decrease instructions when knitting a right side row as follows: k3, k2tog, knit to last 5 sts, ssk, k3.

When decreasing down to the final stitch count, decrease to two stitches MORE than indicated. These stitches will be required as selvedge stitches for the seaming. We will talk about seaming in a finishing post in the next few days. 

When knitting the garter stitch cuff, all rows will be knit. 

So that's it.

The update file for this week can be found below.

Oh, and one other thing. If you don't have a small 3.75mm needle to work the cuffs, don't stress about it. I may have knit mine on the 4mm when I was away. Shh! 

Remember to be in the running for the fabulous White Gum Wool and Augustbird prizes, you must post a finished photo on Ravelry on your project page. You must link to the pattern page. Only those projects that show up in the projects on the pattern page will be in the running for the prizes. 

The prizes will be drawn next Wednesday May 7th, which gives you a bit over a week to finish.

Happy knitting! 

The instalment this week is a wee bit late. Let's blame Easter for that.  

Did you have a lovely Easter break? We did. We spent it with family, which was lovely but it did involve a two and a half hour drive home with two kids on a chocolate come-down (not pretty) and a dash to get back in time for an out-of hours doctors appointment for my husband (not cheap) followed by a trip into the city to find a pharmacist open to dispense his antibiotics (not fun). He has an infected ear, but is now on the mend.  The kids are back at school today after a big sleep, so once again it is quiet and peaceful, albeit a bit messy.

Today's non-clue involves a little tricky-ish part (not really that tricky) followed by some lovely stocking stitch knitting.  As we've finished the yoke it's now time to knit the body and the sleeves. To do this, we're going to separate the body stitches from those that we'll use to knit the sleeves. You will need the two pieces of waste yarn that the Needles and Notions section mentioned.

For those who have not knit my patterns before or are newer knitters, I want to emphasis that there are four kfabs in the row where you separate. These are worked either side of the sleeves stitches that are put on hold. Please make sure you remember to knit them. These kfabs tighten the stitches either side of the sleeves where often slackness appears due to the separation process. They also help to prevent little holes under the arms, which can be quite common with top down garments. I believe you should never have to darn up underarm holes, the pattern should prevent them. This is the first step in doing so.

About waste yarn
Waste yarn can be any scrap yarn that you have left over from other projects. A piece about 12"/30cm long is a good length. The best yarn to use for waste yarn is one that will not felt, so cotton or a superwash yarn is ideal. I like to use a waste yarn that is a different colour from the yarn I'm knitting with.

I have to confess that I don't actually use waste yarn very often anymore. I slip my sleeve stitches onto a Clover Circular Stitch holder and the needle I'm going to knit the sleeves with.  You can sort of see them in this photo.

Integrated button bands
Once we've split the stitches into the body and sleeves, we will keep knitting the body, as pictured above.

You may have noticed at the bottom of the yoke the instructions that had you working 3 knit stitches and then slipping a stitch at each edge of the front. This continues to occur in this section.

The instructions read as:
Body row 1: (WS) k3, wyib sl1 purl-wise, purl to last 4 sts, k4.
Body row 2: (RS) k3, wyif sl1 purl-wise, knit to end of row.

You will notice that this creates a garter stitch edging on each of the fronts which continues down from the garter yoke. You may notice that where the slipped stitch is worked you get a long elongated stitch on one of the insides but it is barely noticeable on the other side. Like this: 

You may have even wondered if you'd done something wrong as they weren't the same. You can probably guess the reason I'm showing you this photo is to let you know that they're not meant to be the same. These slipped stitches are purely functional.

What do they do?
Stocking stitch and garter stitch create stitches that are different in height. The stocking stitch is much taller than the garter stitch. Now imagine you're stacking two rows of blocks of different heights side by side. This is effectively what is happening when you knit garter and stocking stitch side by side.  The garter stitch edging does stretch out vertically to accommodate the stocking stitch but one of the side effects of this is that the garter stitch edge will flip inwards. You may have knit a cardigan before with garter stitch edges where this happened. Sometimes blocking can prevent the flipping but not always and even when blocked the flipping can still happen.

Working a slipped stitch between the garter and stocking sections works as a transition stitch by creating a stitch that is taller than the garter stitch yet shorter than the stocking stitch. It helps to prevent this flipping. Even unblocked this way won't flip as much, when blocked it's foolproof.

You can work this little trick into any garter stitch edging you come across in any other pattern. Neat huh!

I posted a photo on Instagram and Facebook on Friday showing the best place to measure the yoke length. It reminded me that I should included one for the length of the cardie this week. When measuring, it's best to do it on a flat surface and make sure the front and back of the neckline are lined up. Having said that, I will admit that I often measure in the car or the park, neither of which provide terrifically flat surfaces. I love that knitting really is quite adaptable like that. A wee bit out in length for the body is not going to be too drastic.

My wee cardie in Augustbird Pebbly Beach and White Gum Wool Everlasting is all done. I cheated a bit and knit ahead. I'm now working on the sample garment for the bigger sizes  for the full pattern. I'm knitting it in White Gum Wool Gum Grey and Hawthorn. You can see the colours above.  Below is my finished baby size cardie In the 3-6 month size awaiting buttons and blocking. 

Last night I also knit the leftovers from my wee cardie into a square in my mitred blanket. It's now up to 76 squares. Almost a fifth done. 

And below that is this week's pattern instalment.  

Any questions? Comments? Concerns? 

Mystery KALs (Knit-A-Longs) are pretty hot property at the moment. 

They're all over the place on Ravelry, Instagram and all the knitty crafty interwebs hangouts. 

I did a mystery KAL quite a few years ago with the Sorella and Fratello patterns. It was a lot of fun, but just between you and me it was a bit daunting. I was a wee bit nervous about whether those who participated would actually like the patterns. What if everyone complained and said they didn't like them? 

Anyway, all these mystery KALs got me thinking about a KAL where you knew what you were going to be knitting, you knew exactly what you were going to end up with at the end of the KAL but it was still a new unreleased pattern. And just like a mystery KAL you were only given a wee part of the pattern each week. Does that sound like fun? Like something you'd like to be a part of?

I thought it did so I've come up with this:

That wee cardie is knit in a yarn that you've heard me banging on quite a bit about; White Gum Wool. These are the Fairy Wren and the Gum Grey colourways. I am pretty enamoured by this Gum Grey, it's a terrific unisex colour perfect for wee babies and bigger people alike. I'm currently knitting a bigger version of this using the Gum Grey again and a stunning red (Hawthorn) from White Gum Wool.  If you follow me on Instagram you may have seen a little peek.

So here's how the KAL works:

To run this KAL I'm teaming up with two wonderful yarnies, both of which I'm very excited about. And even more excited about is that they are both providing some excellent goodies as a prize.  

Firstly, the wonderfully generous Nan from White Gum Wool. If you haven't caught up on the story behind White Gum Wool, read my older post here and visit the White Gum Wool page here. 

And secondly, the very stalkable Rebecca from Augustbird. (Yes, stalkable really is a word!) Rebecca's stunning website is one that I visit regularly sometimes just for the *sigh* factor. She is a very talented dyer who has been producing some glorious colourways using White Gum Wool as a base. A little birdy told me that there will be a stocking there this Sunday with some very special colourways that would be just perfect for this KAL.

So here's how the KAL is going to run:

The KAL will run for about three weeks, but the pattern will remain up on my blog and you can finish at your own pace if you are a more leisurely knitter. 

Each week I shall be releasing a new section or non-clue of the pattern and chatting about the different techniques used in the pattern as well as giving you some tips on other aspects of knitting that arise as we knit-a-long. I'll be knitting along with you, sharing my progress photos and if need be taking some close up shots to guide you through each section.

Each week after the non-clue is released, I encourage to chat away or ask any questions in the comments section. Feel free to also jump in and answer any questions that you know the answer to!

The pattern we will be knitting will be the little cardigan you see in this post. I think it will make the perfect baby gift, quick and fun to knit. 

It's very easy, so easy that if you're a beginner you can probably join in and learn. If you've never knit a garment before this is the perfect pattern to begin with. The techniques are easy and attainable. For the more intermediate and experienced knitter, this is still one to join in on as we'll be looking at some of my favourite finishing techniques and other tips. And who doesn't knitting a cute baby cardie?

The sizes on offer will be a 15" and 16" chest, which equate to a newborn and 3 month size. These sizes will be offered free. 

At the completion of the KAL, or maybe even sooner, the pattern with the full size range from 15" to 30" chest (equates to a newborn to about 12 years or older) will be available for purchase from my Ravelry store. 

The pattern has been written for White Gum Wool and I would highly recommend using it. 

Nan offers free shipping which is a great incentive to try out this yarn. Either size requires less than a ball for the Main colour. The contrast colour only requires 50-60 yards for these sizes. 

This is a cardie, that because of its simplicity would work beautifully with a solid matched with a semi-solid or variegated colourway, such as Rebecca from Augustbird produces. As I mentioned earlier, Rebecca will be stocking some White Gum Wool in her store this Sunday but do get in quick as it will sell out very quickly!

Everyone who completes the KAL AND posts a picture on their Ravelry page linking to the pattern page, will go into the prize draw.  Winners will be drawn randomly and will win:

First: Four 100g balls of White Gum Wool of the winner's choice.
Second: A 100g skein of Augustbird yarn on a White Gum Wool base. 

I plan to kick the KAL off in just over a week's time, which gives you plenty of time for yarn purchasing. 

Tomorrow I will pop up the details for swatching, needle sizes and notions.

So who is joining me?

and not chicken dinners!

Apparently, in the land of the internets it was Tuesday yesterday when I was supposed to draw the Eucalan giveaway. Hmm, I must have been channelling my inner Scottish heritage, imagining that I was a Northern Hemispherer and thought it was indeed Tuesday today. So let's just pretend it is Tuesday and I might make you a lovely chicken dinner.

I asked my iPhone random number generator app to throw some numbers at me as winners. Do you know that it actually gave me the same number twice in a row! I guess that is quite random. Very random, I say. And I have to say I have NEVER seen that before. Have you? Instead of giving the same person two prizes, I went for an extra draw. That seemed fairer, really. 

Our winners today are (in order of prizes) : Lianne (who is knitting with some BWM), Michelle (indulging in some Madelinetosh DK) and Trudi (who is a polygamist knitter flirting with Wollmeise and Fibrewebs).

Ladies, you shall find an email in your inbox very shortly requesting your postal address.

I do so love hearing what yarns everyone is knitting with. Sometimes it reminds me of yarns I want to try and others, I remember, hey I have that yarn in my stash! I should knit with it soon! Do you know I've never knit with Wollmeise. Can honestly say I don't think I've ever seen it in real life. Perhaps one day I'll rectify that. 

I'm currently knitting with some Malabrigo Rios in the Paris Night colourway, falling totally in love with the variance of shades that is Malabrigo Rios. Have you knit with this? What did you think of it? This one is destined to be Lily's new school cardigan and I am a wee bit jealous that it is not for me. It really is rather beautiful. I am using a really simple pattern, well actually, the one you see above. I think the simplicity will capture the colour variance most beautifully and make me sigh longingly every time I see it.

I have also been knitting with lots of White Gum Wool. *sigh* so beautiful, very beautiful!  I've just knit three pieces in a row with it, and I seriously can't get enough. I'm about to order some more as Toby is in need of a new cardie and has selected his colours from the colour card this morning. He chose well. And Brianna, if you're still trying to decide on colours; get them all...although I have to admit I am quite smitten with the ghost gum, the very pale grey. So very very pretty. 

The cardigan above is knit in the Fairy Wren colourway and it's a little something I've prepared for my The Craft Sessions classes later this year. You'll have to wait until next month to find out a bit more about that. 

I'm back into the swing of writing some patterns. yippee! Currently, there are two with the testers. This cowl above, which is also available in a shorter form. And a cardigan to match the bloom dress, which I am very excited about. You can imagine how long I've been meaning to write this pattern for, umm, let's think about it, err, about 4 or so years!  

Over the next few weeks I'll tell you a little more about that as I have a little something in the works to coincide with that pattern's release. 

Then I think it's time to knit a little something for me. 
What do you think? 
Which pattern would you like to see become a grown up one next? 

I want to share with you a lovely story that aired on ABC TV's Landline the weekend before last. If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen my link to this already. If you haven't watched this, please do. 

Even if you're not from the 'country' or interested in anything remotely farmy, do watch this. 

This is not just about farming or sheep, this is a story that is both uplifting and inspiring. It's about following your passion and believing in yourself. This is a story that will make you smile, and if you're a bit of a softie like me, you might even have a tear in your eye at the end. 

It runs for a little over 16 minutes so won't take long. 

ABCTV - Landline: A Sheep Called Alice

So did you watch?

Incredible, isn't it! 

I've been playing with Nan Bray's wool for a little while now, swatching and knitting and seeing what it looks like in different stitch patterns. Patting and patting and patting it endlessly, not quite believing just how lovely and beautiful it is. If you joined me at The Craft Sessions, you no doubt got to meet some of the White Gum Wool and will know that I'm working on a pattern with it.  And you may have seen the lovely yarn sample card with the most perfect yellow yarn ever.  So I know Nan's wool and I appreciated that it was ethically produced, and I've a wee bit of an email correspondence with her, but I did not know her story.  I did not know the full extent of just how ethical and lovely her approach to farming sheep is. 

I love every thing about Nan's approach to farming, but I particularly love how she studied the sheep and saw from their feeding patterns that they knew the weeds to self-medicate, they just knew! I love that she treats them well and gets such amazing wool as a result.  I love that this woman has decided to have a crack at sheep rearing and wool production, challenging so many long standing conventions and has succeeded so very very  well. I loved her relationship with her stockman Davy and the faith he so clearly has in her. I found it incredible, that given his age, generation and experience, he was so readily able to listen to Nan and even learn from her. This is a man that has a mountain of experience and I think that would have been an incredible open-minded thing to do. 

What wonderful people! They both brought a tear to my eye they were so inspiring.

I have to say, most of all, I love that the sheep don't have their tails docked. For some reason, that really resonated with me.

If you're interested in purchasing either White Gum Wool or WOOLganics yarns, here are a couple of links to their web pages.

White Gum Wool

WOOLganics Organic Knitters Yarn

What I'd love to know is what other true "local" yarns do my readers love? 

Are green or ethical considerations important to you when selecting your yarn? 

It doesn't matter whether you're from Australia, New Zealand, the US or the Shetland Islands, I'd love to hear what local yarns you knit with and love. After all, local love anywhere is worth celebrating.


P.S. As an aside, I started writing this post a couple of days ago and only just had time to finish it this morning. As I was writing it, a knock came at the door and it was the postie delivering me those six balls of gorgeous yarn you see at the top of this post.  How lovely is that! 

Every year round about now I get a wee bit jealous of Northern Hemisphere crafters. I get a wee bit disillusioned about how far away we crafters in the Southern Hemisphere are. I get a wee bit sad that we don't have exciting stuff like Squam or for a knitwear designer like me, the TNNA Trade Shows. That's because right about now, in the Northern Hemisphere it seems that that is ALL anyone is talking about. And you know, it sounds amazingly wonderful and incredibly inspiring!

So when Felicia rang me one day to tell me about The Craft Sessions and to ask if I wanted to teach there, I think I'd said yes before she'd even finished explaining what it was all about.  I am so very excited by what these girls have planned, it is going to be so very very very AMAZING!!! 


So what is The Craft Sessions?
It's a crafty weekend retreat.
For me, that's all I needed to hear.
But for those who need to know more, it's going to be an amazing weekend of craft, workshops, great food and connecting with fellow crafters.   
It's a weekend away in the Yarra Valley where you can immerse yourself in your craft/s; knitting, sewing, stitching, printing and making. 

When is it?
October 25th - 27th 2013.

Where can I find out more?
you can find out all you need to know about The Craft Sessions including the wonderful line up of teachers at the official website over here.  
 

Is this something that you would be interested in?
Do you think you'll be going along?

I'll be honest with you. 

I meant to knit this milo 12 months ago. 
This was supposed to be the milo I knit for milo may 2012, but I didn't do it. Instead, the lure of the noro sucked me in yet again and I knit a milo in silk garden lite for my niece. 

While I'm being honest with you, I'll admit that I hadn't knit a milo for the milo boy since June 2011. Yep, that's two years ago. And when Toby put a milo on at the start of the cooler weather this year, this was pretty  obvious!  

I knit this milo over three days, such a quick and easy knit. I still enjoy knitting milos even after all these years and even though this was my 21st milo. 

During milo may, I had someone ask on facebook if I had to ever refer to the pattern when I was knitting a milo. You know, I thought this was an awesome question. It seems to be a common belief amongst knitters, judging by questions by friends who knit as well as those who send emails, that designers do retain an intimate knowledge of their patterns.

Maybe other designers do, I'm not sure, but I certainly don't. I think I'd be surprised if they do.  I'd love to hear your point of view if you are a designer. Do you remember more of your older patterns than I do?

So while I do know the structure of this pattern pretty much off by heart when knitting a milo, there is no way I can possibly remember the stitch counts or the lengths for all the sizes, particularly as I haven't knit them all.  I've had so many numbers for other patterns, another 50 or so to be precise, go through my head since I wrote this pattern. In fact, when knitting this milo I did insert the stitch marker in the wrong place simply because I didn't actually follow the pattern that closely! 

It's the same when answering an email/pm about a pattern. I'm not sure that knitters realise that this is involved as it is. It does mean getting out a copy of the pattern and re-reading it every time a new question or query is asked. It's very rare I can actually answer a query without having to refer or double check with the pattern.

Digressions aside.

Project details:

Pattern: milo
Needles: 3.75mm and 4mm Knit Picks fixed circulars.
Yarn: Vintage Purls Max (75% merino/25% nylon) 227yards/100grams   Colourway: Lemon Squeezy
Size: 21" knit to size 5 length for my big four and a half year old

No matter how much I love this yarn, and oh my god, I do adore this yarn; it probably wasn’t the best choice for a milo. It has nothing to do with the colour and more to do with the drapey aspect of this yarn.

That’s not to say I’m not happy with this milo, I most certainly am! This colour is superb for when he runs off through the bush…. I. will. not. lose. him. anywhere! Even when he chooses to wear an outfit that camouflages perfectly with the surrounding landscape…

There is absolutely nothing wrong with knitting a milo in a yarn such as this; one which is superwash and has plenty of body and drape. It’s just not my personal preference for a milo. For a milo, I like something that is more sturdy, perhaps even nubbly or tweedy. I definitely prefer a handwash. I think that it sits better around the shoulders and the chest too, if it’s less likely to suffer the fate of stretching that often comes with a superwash yarn.

It's hard to believe it's already almost half way through May. Almost. How did that happen? It seems like it was barely February yesterday!

May around these parts means Milo May; a super dooper knit-a-long of milos in my Ravelry group.
Have you joined in yet? 

This is the third, I believe, Milo May that we've held and it's always great fun! I love seeing all the different milos created and am always inspired by new ideas and a new spin on the pattern. I love the way so many knitters use milo as a blank canvas. 

Just the other day, I saw a little girl at kinder wearing a milo (gosh, that always makes me feel soooo good when I see a random knit knit by someone I don't know) and her granny who knit the milo had left off the cable added a little garter pocket near the hem with some cute feature buttons. 

I am so lucky to have on board as my sponsor again this year, Little Plum Yarn. 

I absolutely adore Sharon's dyeing. She has such beautiful depth and consistency in her colourways. The green above is one of my favourites, I have some in my stash just hanging to become a cardigan for me. 

Sharon has very kindly donated two skeins of glorious superwash dk yarn in the winner's choice of colourway. So how do you win? Or even enter to win?

It's quite simple. Just knit a milo in May and post pictures of your FO over in my Ravelry group. There's a chatter thread over there too, for lots of inspiration and support. 

Here in Australia, May is the month when Toby really starts wearing his milos again. I've noticed that, unfortunately, they're all pretty much too short!  He's chosen a very bright yellow for a new one, and has also requested one with some wild animals on it (preferably Tasmanian devils!). I'd really like to knit him a new noro one (always looking for an excuse to buy some more noro ~ it's the one yarn that really doesn't hibernate in the stash!) but I'm not sure I'll manage to accomplish all that in the next couple of weeks. Heck, I know I won't! 

Lily wore her noro milo to school yesterday which looked very cute with her skirt, and knee high socks! She's a bit of a school uniform rebel and likes to push the boundaries. They're not strict about uniform at her school, which I love, I'd much rather the teachers focussed on the important aspects of education, not whether her jumper is the right colour, or her socks the right length! Anyway, I digress......

So if you feel the need for a quick knit or a new milo, pop on over and join in. If you've never knit a milo before, this is a good chance to and you'll see why it is so addictive. Would you believe there are knitters out there, and that is plural, who have knit over 50 milos!

There are currently 5967 milo projects in the Ravelry database. I'd love love love to see it hit 6000 by the end of May! 


You can the pattern, milo here.