Several years ago I came across many hanks of merino yarn dyed in the most beautiful shades. They were Gumnut Yarns produced in Mudgee by a yarn maker whom I haven't had the pleasure to meet yet. The yarns come in two weights the lighter of which is about the same as Shetland 2 ply.

For many years I had been doing what I called Fair Isle knitting using mainly Paton's Bluebell yarns This is a wonderful yarn that came in many different colours, each year in some new shades and in some old favourites. As Bluebell was getting harder to get I was delighted to find the Gumnut Yarns which knitted up quite differently but just as interestingly when stranded.

At the same time I was being influenced by other knitters who were doing interesting things with colours and stitches. One was Kaffe Fassett whose books I devoured and whose designs I loved to play with. The other was Liz Gemmel who I did a class with at Textile Fibre Forum in Mittagong, NSW, in 1996. Liz brought a whole new dimension to stranded knitting, as I learned to call it, for me. We learned how to hold many different threads in many different ways to produce many different effects. She also gave us some interesting ideas for doing random 'Fair Isle' which I picked up and played with.

This convergence of interesting yarn and interesting ideas soon translated into my own versions of random Fair Isle, random Aran, random any knitting pattern that came to mind. Slowly I made my first 'Feral' cardigan using every one of the Gumnut Yarns. Later l made an adult's vest, then a child's vest, another cardigan, another vest, and I'm on a third cardigan. They are relatively slow going but always fun.

If you look closely at the stitch work of one of these (see the Textures page for a close up) you will notice that many of the stitch patterns are not random in some places. They are quite regular and resemble many traditional Stranded or Jacquard stitch patterns. Sometimes when I am doing these garments I like to work completely randomly. Other times I like to bring in a bit of order, depending on my mood or where the garment is up to.

The two garments featured so far are vests - one for an adult, one for a child. In time I will get the others photographed too and they will join these.