2019 Maleny Knitfest Post-Op

This time last week I was madly packing for the Maleny Knitest; fretting about not forgetting anything &, hoping upon hope, that the wet & windy weather would clear & be kind for the weekend ahead.

Fortunately, I didn’t forget a thing. Sadly, the rain persisted for most of the 2 days. However, this didn’t deter the thousands of visitors that came through the doors. So, a big Thank You to everyone, from near & far, who braved the elements;  & to everyone who came & said hello. It was lovely catching with old friends & meeting so many new ladies & gents.

Maleny Knitfest is getting bigger each year confirming that all the hard work the organisers & volunteers put in is worth their ongoing effort.

There were lots of new trade stalls with tempting yarns & fibres & I must admit I couldn’t resist bringing home bundles of lovely yarns & fibres to play with.

Another big Thank You to all the ladies who attended my 6 flowers workshop. I trust you all enjoyed yourselves & that I inspired & increased your crochet repertoire somewhat.

The last Thank You must go to the lovely Robyn Bailey, my trusty trade stall off-sider, I say it, again & again; I couldn’t have done it without you… You’re a Gem!!!

Congratulations to Deb Niotaris & Jill Henderson, the raffle winners, of the 2 Crochet books I donated I hope the books give each of you many hours of happy crochet time.

The competitions had great support this year & were fabulous. The theme ‘Australiana’ View the Tree entries here  & the winners of the Best Beanie, Tea Cosy, Scarf & socks here  & you can checkout more Knitfest action on facebook here

Finally, the following are my Knitfest competition entries.

So, that’s about it for Knitfest 2019. Hope to see you all next year, cheers Renate

 

Alice Springs Beanie Festival 2019

I’m so very late with this post, but better late than never, or so I’m told… Many of you have asked me about my Alice Springs Beanie festival 2019 entries – did I even enter?

To explain… The past couple of months have been super busy with getting my online shop up & running which has taken more time than anticipated. All my for sale crochet & freeform crochet items have been transferred to rensfibreart.com  My Etsy shop will only be carry patterns now. I feel this is the right move. What with Etsy now aggressively pushing free shipping, something I’m not able to do; the integration of PayPal into Etsy direct payments; not to mention a whole string of other changes that adversely affect many sellers. Please take a moment to checkout my new shop & let me know what you think… I’m open to all feedback, so don’t be shy.

Now… getting back to Alice Springs Beanie festival entries, yes I did enter: one Beanie & one Tea cosy & here is a link to all the 2019 winners

The Theme this year was ‘Head full of Tunes’

So, there you go… I’m still re-organising from last week’s Maleny Knitfest & will post about that soon as well…

For the love of Colour & Texture… Freeform Crochet…

Here are some new freeform crochet pieces I’ve been working on over the past few weeks, now finished & listed in my Etsy shop… Lots of gorgeous colour & beautiful textures to inspire you. For each piece I took into account the type of yarn used, resulting in totally distinct & individual pieces. I’m pretty happy with the outcome… enjoy!

 

This Jester beanie is possibly my most popular beanie style, created in an 8ply, 60% Superwash / 40% Polyamide yarn & an assortment of acrylic / natural yarn embellishments. Rich, vibrant colours, a joy to work with…

 

 

 

 

 

I just love the colour combinations of this lovely 8ply, 50% wool / 50% acrylic yarn, reminiscent of the ocean blues & yellow sandy beaches.

 

 

 

Texture, texture, texture… these 2 pieces, created in 12 ply, 80% Acrylic / 20% wool yarn, are wonderfully chunky yet, if I may say so, subtle & dignified..

& lastly, this freeform crochet scarf that moves from creamy, off white, to chocolate brown to velvety black. Created in a gorgeous, super soft, 8ply, 30% Alpaca / 70% Acrylic yarn blend.

 

 

My re-purposed Freeform Crochet Coat…

Forest InspiredSo, continuing with my personal commitment to complete UFO’s & work on new projects that have been sitting on the back-burner for far too long, I took a good hard look at this Freeform Crochet Coat that I created in 2006 & is featured in my book ‘Freeform Crochet & Beyond.’

This piece has special meaning for me as the colours, textures & forms came alive for me in a forest reserve where I often visited for solace & inspiration. Having that said, & as much as I love it, I also know that it’s big, bulky & heavy, more over, not to everyone’s taste, & to sell it on the Net would cost a small fortune to ship…

It’s been in my mind to pull it apart & make other items, but… Oh my!…What a job that would be… so,… the idea was put in the ‘too hard basket’ time & time again… Then, this summer, an extremely hot one at that, so much so, that I found it difficult to move too far away from the air fans blowing at high speed, I decided that, seeing as I’m sitting here like a sweltering lump, I might as well be doing something useful… & so I began unravelling the freeform patches…. long story short… here are the items I came up with… I’m very happy.

Hood & scarf ComboDSCF1717Large Freeform ToteLarge Freeform ToteSmall Freeform bagSmall Freeform crochet bagFreeform Crochet Tcosy

Beanies… Plain & Simple….

chunky purple flowerWell… not quite… the simple styled beanie hat with a little embellishing & tweaking can become a flattering winter accessory that doesn’t date too quickly over time…

I’ve been rather busy lately, with local displays, markets & classes, so elaborate projects have been put on the back burner for a while or, at least,  until I have a clearer creative head space… but that’s not to say I’ve had idle hands… hence, this collection of Beanie Hats…

With some, I’ve experimented with large hooks & double threads of chunky yarn & with others I’ve used double threads of sock yarn. I hope this beanie hat collection gives you some new ideas for the beanie that is more than just plain & simple… enjoy!

All hats are now available for sale in my Etsy Shop

turquoise hatpurple turquoise flapper

purple chunky beanie

Red chunky BeanieMulti chunky beaniemulti chunky clochepurple turquoise cloche 1rustic clochepurple brooch clocherustic brooch clochepurple brooch beanierustic brooch beaniered flower beaniemulti beanie scarf set2ply beanie scarf set4ply beanie scarf set

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