Hi everyone,

Wow, I just can't believe it's getting towards the end of January already!!  Seems like it was only New Year's Day last week.  I must be getting old I think...time seems to go faster the older you get....lol

I've been busy busy busy as usual....lol  Have made 62 preemie hats for TTT so far (I pledged 100 for the first quarter of the year).  I've been wanting to get as many done as possible before I head home in a couple of weeks to visit with Mum and Dad and my brother and his family.  I've also made 3 pairs of preemie booties on the loom (pledged 30 pairs), but have stopped making those because I've managed to con....I mean ask....a good friend to make them for me...lol  She can whip them out on the needles in next to no time at all.  :)  Thanks heaps Brenda...you're a real star.  I still need to make the 20 preemie blankies too that I said I would.  Hopefully will get onto those soon, but I'm not too worried...if worse comes to worse and I start to run out of time, I'll just make fleece ones like I did last year.  :)

I've also made two and a half teen/small adult hats on my beautiful walnut loom from Penny at http://aloomyplace.com  It's one of her one of a kind looms, but it's just gorgeous and great to work on.  I've learnt how to use a slip knot to start off because I just couldn't bring myself to put a thumbtack into such a beautifully finished piece of timber...lol  It's funny too, I've used Red Heart yarn on all three hats and they're all a bit different in size...one is too small for me, the other fits me fine, and this third one I'm doing seems to have more stretch in it than the other two...lol  Maybe I just can't get my tension right...perhaps it's different on different days of the week....lol

I'm slowly working through my stash of yarn here....trying very hard to be good and not buy anymore....lol  I have more yarn here in the house than our local KMart has on their shelves....lol  I've been good....haven't bought any new yarn since well before Christmas...I think that must be some kind of record for me....lol  Plus, I'm finding that I prefer the nice acrylics from America than our 8 ply acrylics here...they're quite a bit thicker and knit up so much quicker too.  And, they have a fantastic selection of really lovely variegated yarns that I've just never seen the like of here...certainly not for the price they are anyway.

We're also making rag rugs on our rug looms in loom class at the Markman Knitting Looms Knitting Without Needles group.  We have "class" every Friday morning (Aussie time) and it's great.  I've learnt so much about the looms and stitches and what I can make on them in the 9 or so months I've been a member of the group.  So much for thinking I had "hat" looms and "scarf" rakes...lol  There's just so much that can be done on them.

I need to take a heap of pics of some of my loomed items.  I know I owe you all some pics from previous posts, so will have to get on with it.  Also time I updated my list of looms that I have...lol...I think I have over 40 now.  I'm the little Aussie loom piggy...lol  Just love them all.  :)  Will get the pics taken and posted asap.

Happy looming everyone.

Hugs
Jane in Australia  :)