First day of school

Since the new year began, I have had an ongoing internal dialogue making plans for a new blogging project and (as always) plans for many many knitting projects, a precious few of which will come to fruition. Today is the first day of school, and I have been looking forward to when the house would become quiet enough for me to focus. My plan is to discover Sydney through my "yarn filter", to find out what is going on here in terms of knitting, yarn and fibre arts, and what resources are available? I will then share my findings here.

As a knitter, Sydney is new to me. Knitting became a regular part of my life while I was living in London. This happened when my babies were little and I began to notice and adore hand-knits for little ones and aspired to create them for my two babes. It didn't always work out as I planned, and juggling the family-knitting-work life balance was difficult, but I loved the feeling of relaxation and centeredness derived through time spent knitting and wanted more. My Gran had taught me to knit as a kid, but I would say this was the time in my life when knitting became important to me and I started to see life through yarn tinted glasses - a yarn filter if you will.

After London we lived in the USA in the beautiful Wasatch Mountain range in Utah for a few years. The mother of a friend opened Harmony an inspirational local yarn store while I was there, and it was fun to get involved. I have also become something of a yarn tourist, adding the local yarn store as a destination on our itinerary wherever we visit. A highlight was a precious few minutes I spent at PurlSoho before closing time one summer evening on a short trip to New York last year.

Finally after living overseas for about 12 years my fella and I moved back to Sydney with our two darlings in July 2013. Life in the first 6 months here has been full of settling in, reacquainting, re-acclimatising, taking stock and making inventories. Its taken a while to find a new rhythm and to find my yarn stash and knitting needles. During this time I've knitted myself a hot water bottle cover. And that's all. I am really ready for a lot more. Its time to sort through the yarn stash, and wield some sticks. I need to find some friendly people to knit with, and visit the local yarn stores. I am very excited to experiment with local Aussie yarns and add them to my stash. This morning I filled out my application to join the Knitters Guild of NSW, and have a huge list of places to visit.

So, what to knit next? I recently found myself lamenting that there were no babies in my life to knit for because I really love knitting soft little baby things. Then at Christmas the announcements came: My cousin B who lives in Nottingham is expecting a her first baby in March. She thinks its a girl but the sonographer had to give a noncommittal proviso to cover the possibility of error.

Malabrigo Kettle-dyed Worsted Merino - this is the colour in my stash. 

There was also an announcement from my dear friend M who lives in California and is expecting a boy - her fifth baby (!) in May. I know that M would love a cute little hat for a newborn portrait of her new little one. I have some beautiful earthy coloured kettle dyed merino worsted Malabrigo in my stash, and a pattern M has already described.

Little Darling Earflap Hat by Ashley Darling

I'm good to go with this project, but during my upcoming yarn-tour of Sydney will need to go shopping to find the right project for B's baby.