"Pistachio" headband & neckwarmer

Item: "Cabled Headband"

Pattern: from the book "One-Skein Wonders"
Made for: Me
Time it took to knit: 2 afternoons/evenings, I think
Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Alpaca "Pistachio" #458

Notes: I can't remember for sure, but I don't think I altered the pattern or needle size in any way. It's a little bit loose, I might try experimenting with a smaller needle size later.

Item: "Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf"
Pattern: from the book "101 Designer One-Skein Wonders"

Made for: Me

Time it took to knit: Probably 3-4 afternoons

Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Alpaca "Pistachio" #458

Notes: The pattern calls for 3.5mm needles (& 3.5mm DPNs), but with most BWM yarn, 3mm needles & DPNs give a much better tension. This one was knitted with 3mm needles & DPNs & fits beautifully. Also learned while making this one that Alpaca wool is the only yarn that should ever be used for this item as it feels amazing while other wools/yarns tend to feel a bit too rough for some reason. Maybe it's the stitch used, or maybe because it has a more snug fit than a scarf, I don't know, but I strongly recommend only using Alpaca wool for this.

Both items shown here on me. Photo by Dragon Enterprises.

"Midnight Tweed" hand warmers & neck warmer

Item: "The Wave" hand warmers
Pattern: from the book "One-Skein Wonders"

Made for: Me

Time it took to knit: 2-3 afternoons/evenings? 4 at most.

Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Rustic "Midnight Tweed" #919

Notes: The pattern calls for 5mm DPNs, but 4.5mm DPNs give the right tension with most BWM yarn. It also says to do 8 rounds, but that's a bit short for me. 10 rounds = elbow length

Item: "Garter Stitch Loop-Through Scarf"

Pattern: from the book "101 Designer One-Skein Wonders"
Made for: Me
Time it took to knit: I have no idea... 4 afternoons, I think?
Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Rustic "Midnight Tweed" #919
Notes: The pattern calls for 3.5mm needles (& 3.5mm DPNs), but with most BWM yarn, 3mm needles & DPNs give a much better tension. This one was knitted with 3.5mm needles & DPNs & is a little bit loose/big.

Both items shown here on me. Apologies for the lighting, the wool I used is a very dark blue & using my dark blue couch as the background probably wasn't the smartest idea! Photo by Dragon Enterprises.

"Mulga" hand warmers

Item: "The Wave" hand warmers
Pattern: from the book "One-Skein Wonders"
Made for: Me!
Time it took to knit: I wasn't timing way back then, but a few evenings? It takes a while to get used to the pattern, but once you've got the hang of it, they don't take too long to knit up.
Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Classic "Mulga" #690

Shown here on me with a simple Moss Stitch scarf made using BWM Alpaca yarn in 'Havana" #460. Photo by Dragon Enterprises.

Notes: The pattern calls for 5mm DPNs, but 4.5mm DPNs give the right tension with most BWM yarn. It also says to do 8 rounds, but that's a bit short for me. 10 rounds = elbow length. Very easy once you get into the groove of the pattern.

Owlcakes!

Item: "Owlcakes"
Made for: My sister Jo - we were waiting in line at the post office & we found a calender with a picture of some owl cupcakes on it. Jo wanted to know if the calender gave instructions for making them & I said that it didn't look like it, but I could probably make them without instructions. So then she dared me to try it & we were both pleasantly surprised at how they came out!
Time they took to make: Umm... slightly longer than normal cupcakes? They were pretty easy!
Materials: Cupcakes (I just used my favourite chocolate cake recipe), icing (I used Wilton's Buttercream Icing - when making chocolate icing, leave out the vanilla & use cocoa powder instead. You'll need to add a few more tablespoons of milk to get the right consistency), a piping bag, Wilton piping tip #233 (or similar), Mini Oreos & M&Ms (brown & orange).


(Photos by Dragon Enterprises)

Instructions:

1. Bake cupcakes & mix icing (duh)
2. To make eyes: seperate Oreos (try to get the cream all on one side), stick brown M&Ms to cream side
3. To make ears: cut/break plain side of Oreos in half.
4. To assemble: Stick ears to cupcakes with a small blob of icing, ice cupcakes using #233 tip (start in centre & work outwards - don't forget to ice ears), add eyes & press an orange M&M halfway in (sideways) for beak.

See? Easy!

Violent cakes

Item: "Bleeding Heart Cupcakes"
Made for: Valentines Day 2010
Time they took to make: About 3 hours? Make cake mix, bake cakes, allow to cool, inject with jam & decorate. Not a huge amount longer than regular cupcakes, but a lot more bother!
Materials: Chocolate cakes, Pink food dye (for cake mix - adds to the gore), Raspberry Jam, Icing, Piping bag + 2 tips (fine tip for drawing & filling in the hearts, long tip for filling cakes with jam).

Ordinary cartoony-heart cakes except...

They bleed!

Backstory: Some of my friends were not having a very good time with their love-lives & I was cheering up one friend with the Owl cupcakes (pic coming soon...) & she was saying that the only way I could do a better job of cheering her up would be to slake her blood-lust with something violent, bloody & full of gore. So, naturally I joked about making gory cupcakes & she laughed & said those would be perfect... & then I realised that I could probably do that! So I did. And everyone loved them. They made a HUGE mess though (the jam wanted to go everywhere except in the cupcakes).

Fishbowl Hat

Item: "Fishbowl Baby Hat"

Pattern: from the book "Designer One-Skein Wonders".

Made for: Some baby I'm sure I will have one day.

Time it took to knit: Wasn't tracking, probably about 2 evenings or so? It took me a bit longer this time because I stuffed up the sewing-on of the top bit the first time, so I had to undo & redo it.
Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Classic "Poseidon" #743.

Notes: This one doesn't photograph well... in real life the fish shape is really obvious... as is the fishbowl rim & the gravel at the bottom of the bowl & the waves at the top. Also, it doesn't really hold it's shape well on a stuffed toy, but it looks like it would be fine on a baby... not to mention the colour is WAY prettier in real life! As for the pattern, BWM Classic yarn knits to the right gauge, so no adjustments were needed. I decided on sewing the top of the bowl on with reverse-stockingette facing out, as the pattern was not specific.

Shrug

Item: "Shrug This"
Pattern: from the book "One-Skein Wonders"
Made for: Me!
Time it took to knit: I wasn't timing it, but it was shockingly fast... about 2 hours!
Yarn: Bendigo Woolen Mills Classic "Dark Plum" #738

(Pictured here on me, photo co-starring my gorgeous niece Bridget who was (obviously) in a non-photo-posing mood at the time)

Notes: BWM Classic yarn knits up to the exact gauge & tension, so no changes needed there. This patten involves NO SEWING at all (aside from weaving in the ends which doesn't count... plus there's only 2 ends to weave in!) & it's super-amazingly-incredibly easy! The pattern looks complicated & I remember thinking "I have no idea how this is meant to work..." but it did! And it doesn't even use up 1/4 of a ball of wool (so MAXIMUM wool needed is 50g). The only catch is... it doesn't like breasts & tends to recoil from them in horror & hide in my armpits. Luckily, this is easily fixed with a small amount of Hollywood Tape/Fashion Tape (Fashion Tape comes in several shapes including curved, which works best considering where the tape goes!) & when using the tape it won't budge all day!