Tuesdays Ta-dah.....Shavo

Well almost, its going to need a few changes but that will have to wait. I am going to show you anyway because it did turn out just as the pattern said and I think it looks mostly ok, but he who shall not show his head in the pictures was concerned about the lumpiness under the arms.

Not that it is entirely noticeable from the front but I do admit it does have quite a bit of room under there and the yarn is rather thick and heavy. In fact looking from the other side, there it all is....the arms are ridiculously wide in the top section considering the width of the chest and shoulders. I did stick to the pattern though for once in my life. haha.

So back to the drawing board to fix it up I shall go. Just because I am a nice wife and all. ;-) It measures up exactly to size of his favourite sweater, however, that one is a much thinner yarn so does not bunch up. Le sigh.   I am thinking I will undo the whole top of the sleeves and leave out the pattern panel. Perhaps making them it a little narrower as well. What do you think?

Pattern:  Shavo (a free pattern by Berroco)
Yarn: Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 12 ply (colour 609 Aztec)

Introducing the little Bright Warrior....

.............Umberto............

By Sezza Knits

Miss Chelsea, Model in the making! (aka Peanut)

 ................................................................................................................

This pattern by the lovely Sarah Ronchetti is still in the testing phase and will be up for grabs very soon. I will link to pattern once released. It will be available as either a sweater or a vest and looks fabulous either way.



The pattern is well laid out with step by step instructions so if you have not tried cabling before this would be a great pattern to start with. All instructions are clear and there is the option of using a graph or written instructions for the pattern panel.



Our Little Peanut here is wearing the size 3 version. As you can see its a perfect fit. (Despite the fact that she is 4 1/2 now. Petite little bunny she is.

This project used about 6 50g balls of Moda Vera Pure Wool in 8ply and was knit with 3.75mm needles. Giving it lots of stretch. It blocked out a a bit bigger than the initial size which I was worried might be a little small.


Its a beautiful sweater and it looks great on boys and girls.  I will be making more of them for sure.


We had a great time taking pictures. Isabella Pickles as per usual made an appearance in many of our shots. She wants to be a model too! :-)

Apart from playing with the dogs, which meant catching shots in between throwing the rather grubby ball around, we interrupted our busy photography schedule to stop and smell the daisies which are in abundance right now in our yard.

And all was perfect in the land of Karisma's Kraft.....well almost......








Being the honest types we better fess up to our mistakes hey?  To be honest,  I had taken on way too many projects this month and in my hurry to get things done, I had originally cast on for this project and knit knit knit away right up to the sleeve cast off before I realised I had made a mistake.  This mistake meant I had to start all over again. But thats okay because rather than completely frog it, I decided to keep what I had made and will improvise a little when I have the time and turn it into a smaller vest.   My mistake? I casted on the wrong amount of stitches. Yep 10 stitches less than I should have had. So my sweater was coming out way too small.......

A gentle reminder to myself to stop rushing and trying to get so much done at the same time.  Thankfully it all came out just perfect in the end. And I am currently working on only one knitting project. A cardigan for myself. The urge to cast on something else is ridiculous but I am trying to be strong I am!!!!

Have a beautiful week my friends. Hugs and love to you xoxoxox

                   and
Chelsea  xoxoxoxox

Good day, G'day....Gidday....

Good day to you my friends. I thought I would share my excitement at winning a little prize on facebook the other day. I won a pattern from TiKKi. Very exciting stuff. Yes, only a knitter would understand the excitement of winning such things. But I was excited okay? So which one did I win? This one..... its called Gidday..... You can purchase it here if you like it.

 Georgie had a competition where we just had to name a pattern we wanted and as I was browsing on my phone at the time I just picked Gidday off the top of my head despite the fact I would have loved several of her lovely patterns, my son was using my computer and I did not have time to refresh my mind to the names of the patterns. This one was on the top of my head for 2 reasons, 1... I had just knit a little one and 2...I wanted to make more as one does when something is a pleasure to knit.

Georgie also offers this pattern for free in a baby size and recently had a knit a long with lots of helpful posts on her blog to go along with it. I actually missed it but decided to knit Gidday Baby after the event. I have to say, I loved it. The pattern is simple yet so effective. I immediately added Gidday to my projects queue as I thought my nephews and niece clearly needed one of these. So winning it was a lovely bonus. Back on track.......here is my Gidday baby (unblocked in its natural state LOL) ....love...love...love it....

I used Cleckheaton Country Naturals in 8ply, it knitted up so lovely that I could not stop there and made a little hat and boots to go with it. I still have not added buttons yet it kind of got put aside with all the test knitting deadlines I was trying to meet.

This is the kind of pattern one can cart around with you without worrying about making too many mistakes etc. Yes I do love it and see several being knit up in the next year or so. Going to admit I already have the yarn ready for one of them. I think I shall take it away on holidays with me. :-)

Now for some linky love......

If you want to knit Gidday Baby you can find the pattern for free here. 
If you need some help with your knitting and/or some great tips, you can find them over at TiKKi's blog.  I have linked to the first post on the KAL, you can see more by clicking to next post as you go. There are some really useful tips especially if you are a new knitter. Enjoy Enjoy Enjoy.

Much love and hugs

Catch Ups.....

Hello my lovely friends, long time no blogging seems to be my habit these days. I have missed visiting everyone and hope to catch up on all your posts in the near future.  The home renovations are nearly finished and I have moved into my new bedroom and settled in nicely. The kids have all moved into their various new rooms too and one room downstairs has become a gym for  them. My new craft room is almost there too. I have moved everything in except the sewing machines as I don't have a table yet. Hopefully will sort that out soon.

I have been knitting and crocheting quite a bit for swaps and/or test knits. I will just show you one this post and hopefully add some more later.

I did another test knit for Mymymy Knitting, a gorgeous slouch called Slouch in Motion in 10ply. You can check out her designs here on Ravelry. This pattern is available already in 8ply and the 10ply version should be up for purchase very soon.

I made the small adult size 55cm head circumference. I used about 85grams (Just under 2 50g balls) of Cleckheaton Country Naturals in 10ply. Absolutely lovely yarn to knit with.

This slouch is reversible too but sadly I forgot to take pics the other way round. Both sides look really effective with a slight different look to the pattern panel.

We love it, we do. :-) Gorgeous Gorgeous hat. I see another one coming up real soon in our future.

Will try and write another post later today but for now I must get stuck into some house work and finish a test crochet project I have on the go. Busy Busy Busy as usual. Lots of love and hugs to you all.

Its Autumn down here.....

but feeling a lot like winter lately. Brrr and Ouch....I dream of warmer places to be. For someone who loves yarn so much I really don't do cold too well. My bones are not loving it at all. I love my home but at this time of the year I just want to head somewhere warmer and come back in a couple of months. Not feasible this year but one can only dream hey? :-)

Now for todays show and tell we have the Autumn Infinity Scarf which I started a few weeks back and finally finished last week. I changed the name of mine to Ocean Sky as the colours are not very Autumny at all.

It has since been gifted to my Aunt who is visiting from the US at the moment. She goes home soon and we are going to miss her. :-(  I used Murano yarn from Bendigo Woollen Mills. A little less than one skein was needed.

The pattern is very easy to follow, a pretty design but I found my choice of yarn a little bit too bulky for the wrap around. I would recommend using something a bit lighter if you want to make it. 

Jewelllery Swap......

Hello Lovelies.   I have been joining in on some Monthly swaps through an online Crochet/friendship group.  Last month we swapped bookmarks and I sent this one along to my partner.....

This month we are swapping Jewellery and I am a little late posting mine out so hopefully in the next day or so it will be off and arriving before the month is over.  Here is my effort this time, stepping out of my colourful comfort zone to suit my partners taste..... I actually quite like the way it turned out. :-)

The pattern is from the Noro Crochet Book which I gifted myself for Mothers Day. It is such a beautiful book, patterns aside. LOL I just had to have it. Filled with gorgeous patterns using Noro yarn.

As you can see I used Cotton for this project as opposed to the called for Noro Sock Yarn and I only used half the pattern this time, as I did not have enough beads to make the extra two strands with leaves. I think in Black it would have been too much anyway. I am happy with the results. I hope my partner likes it too.

Have a lovely week all. xoxox

Waves......

Ahem, I know I think I have become the worst blogger on the planet. And as I am about to jump a train to head to the city for a couple of days to visit my oldest daughter, I am going to keep it short.

April goings on..well only some of them, I have been painting and helping lay floor boards and visiting relatives along with entertaining some at our house. So busy busy as usual.. renovations are still ongoing and I have several projects that just need finishing touches so here a just a few pictures so you know I have not disappeared all together....Sorry no time to link to patterns today. Hugs xoxox