My family and I are now home from a great holiday with family in Tasmania and that means one thing and one thing only…..Knitspirations can open now! 
I’m really excited and nervous about opening the store and I REALLY hope that people like my hats and other tidbits as much as I’ve LOVED making them. If I could make my fortune out of knitting (ha!) I would, but right now, it’s my hobby that I’m passionate about.
While our trip to Tassie was a holiday of “pies and parks” for little Thomas, for me it was very inspiring knitting-wise. Tasmania in Autumn is beautiful. The colours of the landscape and the trees have really inspired me to hand paint with some really interesting colour combinations and have given me a lot of ideas for future embellishments and designs.
Along the way I was also lucky enough to visit the Ross Wool Centre and snaffle up some lovely hand painted wool from there and also visit an Alpaca farm where I found some fluffy chocolate brown and creamy white Alpaca yarn. I can’t decide what to knit with any of it yet, but I’ve got it positioned on a cabinet that I see every day hoping that something will pop into my mind as I pass it!
Edited: here are some photos. I’ve decided to knit an ear flap baby hat with the blue! I’m going to line it with fleece to make it nice and snuggly. The wool isn’t the softest in the world so the fleece lining with help with that. I also have something in mind for some embroidery 
The knitting needles in the photos are also from Ross. They’re 4mm and made from Rosewood.
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- Hand spun and hand dyed wool from Ross. Soon to be a baby’s hat!
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- Hand spun and hand painted wool from Ross, TAS.
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- Hand spun and hand painted wool from Ross, TAS.
While I was away I was finishing off a custom order of a toddler hoodie for a friend’s little girl. I was really really happy with how it turned out and can’t wait to see photos of Lilly wearing it. I got the pattern from Knitty – http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEsummer03/PATTchildHood.html and the yarn from www.bendigowoollenmills.com.au . I used Aran in Woodrose and Magnolia. For some reason the Woodrose was a lot nicer to knit with. I will definitely have a go with Bendigo’s Aran again.
I also branched out into knitting a toy (I’m not too sure who for!!) and also found the pattern from Knitty. She (yes, she’s a she!) only has one leg and is missing a face and stuffing but she’s very cute so far and so so little. She’s by far the smallest thing I’ve ever knitted. http://knitty.com/ISSUEfall05/PATTbubby.html
Don’t forget to keep your eye on www.wahmania.com.au/knitspirations !!!!
