Late Night Creativity

My gorgeous boy has a new thing too

2012-01-24T23:42:00.001+11:00

My baby boy, the little bit of scrumptious-ness that he is.

Yup, this one.

The one who is obsessed with his daddy and was found like this while he was mowing the front lawn.

The one with the squishy cheeks.

The one who is an awesome coffee date.

He started preschool this week (sniff!). Two days a week.
All reports are that he had a great time, he did some 'fixing' with their toy tools, and he told the carers (without prompting) that he was having 'such a great day'.

Oh, and they're now considering putting up a basketball ring.

Not kidding :)
Awesome.

Things I'm loving

2012-01-21T14:18:00.001+11:00

Inspired by Sheryl @ Shortly Stitches , who's linking up with Kristy @ PaisleyJade ,
I'm going to share some of the things I'm loving, right now, even in this season of new and changes.

1. Simple snacks that I feel good about giving to my kids.

Mmmmm popcorn!

2. The gorgeous letters I keep
finding and being given by my SoReadyForBigSchool miss 5yo.

3. No description needed, right? ;)

So what are you loving right now?

Gluten therapy

2012-01-18T14:20:00.001+11:00

Sometimes when I'm sad, being creative in some way helps me.

Today, I baked. It helped a little.

We've been in our new place for one week today. Exciting things are happening, and we've already had a visit from some friends who were by chance on holiday near our new town.
My spirits rose with their visit yesterday, and then today they seem to sink. Although truth be told, when I discovered my badly sunburnt legs last night I may have had a small pity party too!

I feel sad for the people that we've, and for the normal, everyday life we've left. I miss being able to relax with people, and just talk about anything at all, rather than 'getting to know you' questions and trying to remember names.

I'm just a bit sad really. It's part of moving, it's ok, it's normal, and I'm sure it will pass or get better or some other thing will distract me.

But for today, I baked, and the rhythm, the process, the feeling like I know how to do that, made me feel a bit better.

What helps you when you feel sad?

It's that time of year ...

2012-01-17T07:49:00.001+11:00

When Facebook newsfeeds and blogs are smattered with photos of small kids in slightly too-big uniforms.

But it's the first year that it's applied to us!

Here in Australia, the school year starts in late January/early February.
My miss5yo is starting school this year, and is very very excited about it!
We went uniform shopping yesterday, and got everything that we needed to send her off ... Sniff ... On her own ... Sob ... To start her schooling career.

Despite momentary emotional eruptions here and there from me, I really am fairly ready and happy for her- mostly because she is SO excited and raring to go!

Also because she is my first, I'm having all the usual feelings of 'where did the time go? How can she be this old?'
Par for the course with this parenting gig, really.

How did you feel when your little one went to school?
Have a lovely day!

Sometimes you need to step outside...

2012-01-15T00:07:00.001+11:00

And forget the unpacking.
Forget the search for the giant box of everyone's current shoes (yes, I have been wearing the same pair of thongs/flip flips since Tuesday. I'm ok with it but I would still like to find that box).
Forget the tiredness.
Forget (for a moment) that you also can't remember where you put that ... Thing ... That I was looking for when I ... And then I walked into this room ... And I think I put it ... Man I'm tired.

And check out the new neighborhood on a scooter.

Hills and all.

A new year, a new blog, a new house

2012-01-07T00:13:00.001+11:00

I wonder how many other blogs got a freshen up for the new year ;)We're moving house in 4 days. Our current house looks like boxes, and cardboard, and items without an obvious home, and a few random toys still that have yet to be eaten by a box until they are unpacked in their new home.We are moving south, closer to the sea, but further away from family and far away (it feels like) from our friends here.I'm sad, and exhausted, and hopeful, and flustered, and again, sad. My kids still bring me joy amidst the sadness (of course), but in the quiet moments, sad I am.

I am hopeful too. Hopeful that our new life will bring joy, and new friends, and that we will make wonderful new memories as we sink our roots down in a gorgeous place.

Sometimes I need to take the time

2011-09-29T17:14:00.001+10:00

And look at what's around me, to think about what I'm doing as I do it.

To see the sunset shining on our trampoline.

To see the dragonfly on my mr3yo's jeans on the washing line.

To ignore the washing and take a moment for me, just me. Well, me and good coffee :)

Things I learned today

2011-09-15T00:05:00.001+10:00

1. I should not stay up late watching bad reality television. My tomorrow-morning self will not thank me.

2. There is a small lizard that likes to hang out on a should-be-pulled-out-of-the-ground-already lettuce in my garden.

3. My garden nemesis is onion weed.

4. The time to realize you have used your size 4mm Knitpicks interchangeable needles for the entire body of a shrug instead of your 4.5mm, is not when you've knit said entire body section, picked up lots of extra stitches, and are looking for your 4mm to do the ribbing. Not fun to find that out at that point, at all.

5. Sometimes, my miss5yo still wants to be like her mum and take photos of her shoes.

My mum taught me how to knit

2011-09-13T13:44:00.001+10:00

And my Nanna (my mum's mum) taught me how to crochet.

My Nanna and Grandfather lived in a retirement village, an hour or two's drive from where we lived. School holidays at Nanna's place were spent eating food she'd baked for us, riding our bikes (my brother and I) on the paths and mini-roads around the nursing home, bushwalking in the reserve behind the village, and (me) learning to crochet.
She didn't teach me the names of the stitches, apart from chain, just how to make granny squares. So we made, and made, and made.
And she made this for me, back before red was even my favorite colour.

It's just a little wider than a single bed. Made from soft acrylic in cream, pinks, and red, which many would probably turn their crafty noses up at (me too, at times!), but it has stood the test of washing and using over time and still looks great.

Now my miss5yo has it on her bed to keep her warm, and I love that she's using something made so long ago, made with such love.

"Pencil skirts in shades of grey"

2011-09-04T12:34:00.001+10:00

Overheard at a cafe today from child-free parties as I kid-wrangled...

"I'm so glad to just have one subject left to do, and then I can start my life, imagine all the shopping time I'll have".

"I don't have any responsibilities but sometimes I think maybe there is more to life than sleeping and beer... Then I crack another cold one".

"There was the most gorgeous pencil skirt in shades of grey, I just had to have it. I know, but I can wear it to work and when I go out too".

The grass isn't necessarily greener, but it does inspire a sense of longing for times past. Before my owly growly voice was used this often and I could sleep in and go to a cafe. Without saying things like 'no, stop that, one, two ....'. Sigh.

But then I look at the gorgeous faces that call me mummy, and shopping, sleep, and pencil skirts do lose their sheen.

Wordless Wednesday - nearly spring!

2011-08-31T17:50:00.000+10:00

I'm playing along with Wordless Wednesday at Faith, Hope, and a Whole Lotta Love. Come see :)

Let's all pretend...

2011-08-24T20:35:00.000+10:00

That it hasn't been almost a month between posts. Ok? Cool.

I've been writing blog posts in my head though. Does that count?
Posts about playing in the winter sun with my kids.

And posts about gardening.

And all the baking I've been doing.

And a really cool post about how miss4yo and I have discovered our local library, and how we spent ages looking for Wally in a 'Where's Wally' book that I probably read when I was in primary school.

And knitting. Of course knitting.

Unfortunately, there's just enough of life to deal with in today's stuff and jobs and little victories and hard bits and the extraordinary and the ordinary ... let alone going back and covering all of that. So let's pretend you read about it, you liked it, you even commented (!), and you're hungry for more.
Me? I'll try to oblige with the 'more' at a more frequent (or at least regular) pace. Cool? Awesome.

A spot of tea.

2011-07-27T23:35:00.000+10:00

An elderly neighbour invited my children and I in for tea this afternoon (brave soul that she is!). We often speak in passing, about our gardens (theirs gorgeous, mine currently feeling a distinct lack of love in the wintertime!), our shared love of growing tomatoes, how big my kids are growing. Through the passage of our criss-crossing lives, we actually know each other quite well.

But I'd never been inside their house. So this afternoon, when they invited us in, I said yes.

I did pre-warn them: "You know my kids are going to touch everything, right?"
The reply" 'Don't worry love, we dont have anything expensive for them to break".

We walked inside, they put on the kettle, asked me how I took my tea (black with no sugar, thanks for asking), and a packet of biscuits appeared on a sweet little serving dish as if by magic.

My mr2yo needed the bathroom, so I took him.

We finished in the bathroom, and walked back out into their kitchen, to find miss4yo playing with a basket of toys, explained to be the great-grandchildren's stash that is brought out when they come to visit.

Then miss4yo needed the bathroom, so I took her.

We finished in the bathroom (again), and walked back out to the kitchen to find mr2yo playing his version of 'snap' with some well-loved cards he'd found. I sat at the table with my friend, sipping tea from a gorgeous teacup, with a saucer (!), and eating Shortbread creams.

They didn't mind that my kids made a mess. They told me that, for birthdays and Christmas, instead of buying their great-grandchildren more toys that they don't need (because they have so many) they are buying them something small and putting money aside for them for later in life (which won points with this toy-infested-cluttered-too-much-stuff housekeeper!). They played games and did jigsaws with my kids. They didn't mind when the toys were everywhere.

It was a lovely afternoon, and I'm glad that I accepted their invitation in for tea instead of returning inside my house to whatever 'important' thing I would have done otherwise.

Right yarn...

2011-07-26T14:07:00.002+10:00

(100purewool worsted 3ply in 'Passionate', much more maroon and pink than shown), WRONG pattern for it (Garden City by Sheryl from Shortly Stitches which is a lovely lovely pattern- just not in this yarn!).

Right yarn (Bendigo Woollen Mills 'Luxury' 8ply in 'Iris Mist'), right pattern (Olearia, by the very talented Tikki).

This photo was taken in the afternoon sun at my kitchen door- I turn into a bit of a reptile in the winter and I'll gladly sit on the floor if it means I can get warm!

Exciting things ...

2011-07-03T19:36:00.000+10:00

Exciting things have still been happening, with all that knitting going on.
I went to my first preschool Mothers Day party (well, unless went when I myself went to preschool [which is the year before school starts here in Australia, more school-preparation focused than daycare generally, but not compulsory for all children, most kids that attend go 2-3 days per week]).

I had to take one of my old shoes, and my beautiful miss4yo and I made this creation.

I wish I'd taken a photo of the display to show you all, but just picture lots of painted shoes hanging up like this one!

Another exciting thing that happened was the start of Pay-It-Forward 2011 - no, I wasn't organised enough yet to send off my two packages, but I recieved mine, from Clare @ Green Valley Crafts

The gorgeous handmade tag- love the lace!

The package itself:

And where it went (on my shirt) about 15 seconds after I ripped open the package :) I would have taken a face-included photo but for some reason that day I wasn't feeling particularly photogenic!

So Mummyzilla and Ottomania - please email me (latenightcreativity at hotmail dot com)your postal addresses and any ideas for what you'd like me to make for you/your kids - I'm feeling a bit idea-poor but I'd love to get a start on your items :)

I know.

2011-07-02T21:42:00.001+10:00

I know it's been over a month. I know. I know I haven't posted. I know you all will have been wondering where I am, what I'm doing.
The answer is: knitting. And knitting and knitting and knitting! My business is going really well, which means not much else has been happening in terms of general craftiness.
But today... Ah today. The stars magically aligned enough that I had about 3 (count them, three!) hours at home, ALL BY MYSELF. That is completely my way of recharging.

So I did a bit of this:

And, excitingly enough, I got out my sewing machine (for the first time in months) and finished free-motion quilting my boys first quilt (more reflections on that to come), made the binding, and machine sewed on one side of the binding.

All that is left now is to handstitch the other side down and it will be done. Today was awesome!

It's a rainbow

2011-05-26T17:14:00.001+10:00

The kids and I go to a Mainly Music group during the week, and have done since they were quite small. One of the favorites in our house is the Rainbow song, and I though it might be nice to catch up on some happenings around here ... Musically.

Deep breath everyone...

'Take a little bit of red'
(tags I made for my knitting)

'And a little bit of orange'
(self explanatory, yes? Mmmm)

'Add a stripe of yellow'
(perhaps I should have moved the shelves down?)

'And a stripe of green'
(a sock project I wish had've gone much faster).

'A little bit of blue'
(ahh, trampoline hair!)

'A bit of indigo'
(mmmm yummy Red Riding Hood Yarns sock wool that I'm knitting a few rows of here and there when my shop FO's are cast off).

'Don't forget the violet'
(again, some delicious Red Riding Hood Yarns yarn, this time in 8ply superwash)

'And what do you know?
It's a rainbow.'

'A wonderful wonderful colorful colorful magical magical ... Shining rainbow.'

Mr2yo is now Mr3yo!

2011-05-24T13:39:00.000+10:00

And over this past weekend, we celebrated with a little, simple party.

He's requested a yellow Wiggles cake - so my head said yellow icing, Wiggles icing transfer (and then sport icing pictures that my mother-in-law had contributed also). He loved it (and ate one of the icing pictured before this picture was taken).

We had a bbq - sausages, chicken skewers, salad, and bread rolls.

We played pass-the-parcel

Ate jelly cups

And the birthday boy had a great time playing with everyone.

And this was the winning present - a bag of tennis balls for my sporty 3yo little man.

Happy Birthday mr3yo - you are so loved, so enjoyed, and such a lovely little man.

P.S. Thanks for those of you who commented on my cobwebby post. It feels good to be 'back' :)

Do you think I should do something about the cobwebs on this page?

2011-05-19T23:11:00.000+10:00

I've thought alot about how to write this post. Going over in my head the different angles to take, the different points to raise, how to write without seeming too critical ... and the days ticked over. And again. And again.

So now, more than a month later, I'm just going to write it.

In the last month, I've started up a web-based business, selling my knitted creations. It's based on a popular social networking site, which is linked to my personal profile on that site.

And this is the reason I've wondered about what to post here, on my blog. A blog that nobody (apart from one lovely person who has a secret blog of her own!) in my person-to-person face-to-face everyday 'real life' (ok, apart from my husband) knows that I have. A blog on which I feel like I have the freedom to write what I want, when I want to. That I can show whatever part of my life, crafty or kid-related, personal or not, without filtering myself based on who I think could read it and be offended/think differently of me/not know what to say.

A blog that is mine, just for me, and one which I feel quite protective about.

I've thought about what to do - do I advertise on here for the shop? Do I link from the shop to here? Do I write on my business cards (yes, as of today, I have actual real beautiful business cards!) this web address and hope that my posts here somehow inspire people to buy my stuff?

Anyway, in case the intentional vagueness of this post hasn't tipped you off, I won't be doing any of that.
For me, blog and business are going to be separate, at least for now. I like it here - maybe one day I'll be brave enough to share it with the world and not care about what people around me will think of it and me and the things I spend my time making.

I know its probably much bigger for me than for any of you. And I also know there are a few of you that know the business that I'm talking about. If you don't mind humouring me, can we keep it just between us? It's really going to be much nicer here without me spruiking my stuff in every post anyway.

P.S. For those playing along at home with the last post - I chose the sparkly ones :)

I have a question for you ....

2011-04-08T07:47:00.000+10:00

Which one of these do you like

For this?

I think I'm leaning towards the sparkly one. Any thoughts?

My creative space today ...

2011-03-31T15:43:00.000+11:00

Today my creative space is full of doing the little jobs you have to do at the end of knitting projects, like sewing on buttons, sewing in the ends, organising your needles, and sewing on chin ties for newborn earflap hats.

It's not the most exciting way to be creative, but at least once the jobs are done you can move on to more fun things, like using this recently-delivered yumminess ...

Miss4yo wanted to share her creative space today as well - however, the coffee is most certainly mine!

How are you being creative today? Come over to kootoyoo and play along.

Road trip

2011-03-26T16:13:00.001+11:00

We're going on another road trip to see the 'drive-on-the-fast-road-to-see-them' (miss4yo's interpretation of going on a highway) family today.

We've all bought our 'essential' items:
Mr2yo bought his Teddy and pillow

Miss4yo bought her Beauty and the Beast pillow, and her butterfly bag, full of hairties, lip gloss, and nail polish- girly much?

And for me, caffiene, sugar, and knitting for the trip.

See you when we get back!

Colours of our little world

2011-03-21T14:41:00.001+11:00

An amazing white flowery plant on the way to preschool... Anyone know what it is?

Miss4yo's self-painted purple toenails

Pink frangipanis wet from the rain

And yellow sunflowers standing tall.

Purpley-black eggplants getting bigger

My knitting in brown, pink, and green

And some yummy roast vegies and apple.

The mundane colours of our world too...

And miss4yo's pretty pink umbrella. If you must go out in the rain, go in style.

The sewing mojo has been lurking in the shadows

2011-03-17T00:18:00.001+11:00

... And perhaps because of all the knitting thats been going on, tonight turned into a night of starting two different sewing projects. I do find that I can be completely absorbed in one craft for awhile, then that familiar pull comes to the other neglected craft... And back and forth I swing!

Project one:
Taking this pair of Daddy's jeans that split at the backside

And cutting and unpicking them to soon become some size 3 jeans for mr2yo.

I decided to use the coin pocket, the belt loops, and various tags for embellishment. I also kept the outside seam on both sides for a bit of strength in the finished product.

Project two: inspired by these sprinkle shirts I began embroidering this letter to go on a yet-to-be-sewn fleece jumper for miss4yo for this winter. Dana used embroidery thread, I used 4ply knitting/crochet cotton on 2 layers of knit fabric because that's what I had here in miss4yo's favourite colours- pink and purple!

Both projects completed while watching tv :)

A garden update

2011-03-11T19:41:00.001+11:00

Here in Australia we've just come out of a really hot summer, and though the days are sometimes still warm to hot, the reality of autumn arriving and winter coming is starting to become clear.

My garden has seen some HEAT over the summer, and though I'm still not as veggie-future-planning as I'd like to be, I've been trying to plan ahead to still have some produce happening over the next few months.

Our sunflowers have shot up dramatically and are about as tall as my miss4yo

And some look like they're close to opening.

Our beans are climbing up, up, up ...

All the way to the top!

Our eggplant fingers are producing

And the lettuces and silverbeet are coming along nicely.

The plant of unknown species has been taken from the pot that it was in and put into the ground ... still dont know what it is though! Any ideas?

Our sunflowers and chilli plant near the back door are still growing and making me smile as we walk inside.

And we get the enjoy this splash of colour from over the fence too.

How's your garden growing?

P.S. Thanks to those who expressed concern for my new nephew. His little body fought off some pretty hefty infections, and he is now home acting just as a newborn should.

A pillow and a snuggly knit blanket

2011-03-06T22:45:00.001+11:00

Is what's needed at the moment.

My new nephew has been taken to hospital and is getting some very important test results tomorrow. I feel quite worried as the whole thing is completely out of my control.

I don't even want to knit.

So give me something cuddly, something tactile to soothe my worried spirit, even if just a bit.
A pillow and a snuggly knit blanket, one more sleep, and then some knowledge with what the way ahead will bring.

My creative space today ...

2011-03-03T21:25:00.001+11:00

Involves some strategically photographed blocking ....

And some car knitting, utilising a lovely new (to me!) WIP (work-in-progress) bag. My little family and I have been driving to and from a place two and a half hours away (so that's about 5 hours knitting time, factoring in of course handing out snacks, drinks, and putting cranky kids arms back into their carseat straps), visiting a new, scrummy, blue 9pd9ou (4.3kg!) addition to our extended family. There's already a competition between my husband and I as to who will be the favourite aunty or uncle ... for the record, I've decided that I'm already the favourite ;)

What's in your creative space today? Come to kootoyoo and play along.

Life is flying past in a blur

2011-03-02T14:10:00.002+11:00

Here are some of the moments.

Going to swimming lessons.

Winding wool. Again.

Miss4yo's recently started job chart.

A surprise in the post from a generous soul.

I do love the little star, every time.

My surprising but lovely winnings in recent times

2011-02-21T09:00:00.002+11:00

There's a post that has needed to be written for about two months now.
This post is ... that post.

I don't know about you, but I really love competitions in internet and blogland. I don't always enter, but when I do, I definately don't expect to win anything.

I'm not sure what was going on in December last year, but for some reason the odds tipped in my favour and I won not one, but TWO giveaways! I was a very very happy and squeal-ey little blogger indeed.

The first competition I won was on the facebook page of Red Riding Hood Yarns. I've posted before about these amazing, one-off, hand-dyed yarns in everything from laceweight to worsted on gorgeous bases. Hannah (the uber-talented dyer herself) ran a KnitAlong (KAL) in November on Ravelry for those knitting projects with her yarns, and my laceweight Zeusbel was picked as one of the lucky winning projects.
The yarn I won was one of the balls shown in the previous post that I hand-wound, but here it is in skein form (along with the yummy chocolates that I won, and the yarn and chocolates won by another knitter).

Mine is 200g of 8ply Luxury yarn in the Fern colourway.
Arent they both amazing, and isn't Hannah talented! Her yarns are selling out really fast on Facebook at the moment, take a look ... I dare you not to be tempted!

The second competition I won was at a gorgeous blog called mumtoddlerbabe. Virginia is actually a good friend of mine in real life but I think even if we weren't friends, I would still be reading her blog. It's full of pretty things, lovely photos, and real life stuff about being a mum and all that goes with that. Virginia ran a giveaway to win some very cool Christmas decorations, the entry was simply a comment on one particular post, and then winners were picked randomly. I won these wall decals - being red, they're right up my alley!

As we werent spending Christmas at home last year, I decided we'd save them to put up in 2011.

I've been thinking about different ways I can give back since being the lucky recipient of both of these giveaways ... if you too are thinking about sharing the love then why not pay it forward with me?

Finished objects and the start of something new.

2011-02-19T21:57:00.001+11:00

Well the stars aligned enough this week for me to finish not one, but TWO gorgeous Benji hats for my two children. We had two attempts at a photo shoot for them, one pre-dinner and one post dinner (hence the lasagne on their chins in the final photos). Miss4yo has proclaimed hers (which is Child Size) as 'the best thing [I've] ever made for anyone' and mr2yo (whose is Toddler size and is a little tight on his quite large head, but will still do this winter) said 'wow, you knitted it me mummy?'.

It's important to wear a Barbie Princess dress for photos sometimes ...

And also to drink water from a Baby Born water bottle ... just cause you can.

I know I'm biased, but they're a little bit cute really!
More details for both projects can be found on my ravelry page if you're interested.

In terms of new beginnings, last night was spent hand-winding 8ply yummy yarn and watching tv. The yarn I was winding will be used in a yet-unannounced new venture I'm working on, and just winding it made me feel like I was really starting to walk down a new path, an exciting and slightly scary but definately a path I'm looking forward to taking.

Cheesy biscuits

2011-02-15T19:35:00.002+11:00

Amidst all the hat knitting, and due to financial constraints, there's been a lot of thought going into cooking, meal planning and generally trying to use what ingredients we have instead of visiting the supermarket at least every few days.

The family is hungry, and they must be fed!

Yesterday was a bit of a cooking marathon. I made lunches for preschool, omelette, banana bread, rice bubble slice, yoghurt in our Easiyo maker, and the usual breakfast lunch and dinner!

Today's effort were these Cheesy Biscuits, of which half have been eaten already so I know they're a hit.

We had used this recipe the other night to make yeast-free pizza bases, and while it was okay, it was a bit too biscuity for our tastes.
I thought, therefore, it'd be a good one to try for cheesy biscuits.
I'll copy the recipe here with the modifications we did.

Cheesy Biscuits
Ingredients:
1¾ cups self-raising flour
½ cup Parmesan cheese
¼ cup vegetable oil
⅔ cup boiling water

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 200'C
2. Place flour and cheese in a bowl. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add oil and boiling water.
3. Stir with a fork to combine. Knead just to combine. Divide dough into two portions. (I did this as it was easier to handle half the dough at a time).
Roll out to 0.5cm thick. Cut into shapes, bake in the oven for 5 minutes.

Makes 30 (depending on your cutters!)

Was a great one for the kids to help with the cutting out too.

Don't you just hate it ...

2011-02-11T22:44:00.002+11:00

When you decide to stash bust, and you take a leap of faith at the start of a project, thinking you'll probably have enough yarn, better to try than not at all, and all that? And then things like this happen...

See that weeny ball of yarn? That's all the baby pink I have left in my stash. And not enough for this project.

Miss4yo picked pink as the main colour for her first Benji hat, and decided she wanted some purple and green variegated for the contrast (which really is much nicer in real life!). So I began last night a hat for my girl, with good intentions, and fighting against all of my anti- baby-pink urges, to see that smile on her 4yo face when I would present her with her finished Benji hat.

Sigh. Off to frog ... And start again with a different yarn.

P.S. I haven't forgotten the FO post I promised! Just blocking now :)

From little things...

2011-02-09T15:24:00.002+11:00

Big things grow.

I started knitting a hat last night. It's the very cool Benji hat by the also very cool Sheryl Greenfield of Shortly Stitches. I'm loving the pattern so far, very logically written and great value considering it is sized from
newborn to XL Mens size!

This was taken at 2am (eek!) ... Hence the really bad lighting!

And this just now.

Hopefully a finished object post will be here shortly! ;)

The Ebb and Flow of the almost-start

2011-02-03T16:24:00.002+11:00

It's been another strange week here in our house. We seem to be flipping from big events (like miss4yo starting preschool!)

to times of relaxation, like watching summer cricket and drinking good coffee.

I feel a bit like I've lost my mojo somehow. We're not in holiday mode anymore, yet the 'normal' activities (like playgroup and bible study for me) haven't started yet so I feel at a bit of a loose end.

Craft-wise, I'm trying my hardest to crawl back to normal levels of creativity but the Aussie summer heat seems to be contributing to a lack of energy generally.
This was the last time I knitted:

Melbourne Airport, January 12th. 2nd sock, above the heel-turn, no further knitting done.

I did get my overlocker out and whip up some baby shower presents, but that was unfortunately due to financial pressure rather than an inspirational spark.

Sigh. Mojo... Mojo ... Where are you?

Anyone else know the feeling?

Yesterday

2011-01-26T18:46:00.002+11:00

On a cool afternoon (well, cooler than the 35' day we had here yesterday!), while my babies pushed their pretend babies on their swings

I strolled around my garden having a look at where things are up to, 2/3 of the way through a hot summer here in Australia.

This is our corn

And this is how big the biggest ear of corn is.

This is one of the few strawberries that either the kids or birds haven't eaten- I have big hopes for next year!

And though the tomatoes are mostly done, here are some hopeful flowers just coming up

Apart from that, there are the broccoli and basil (which will have a row of sunflowers behind it)

And these broccoli in pots too.

The beans are chugging along

And this is what's next to our front/back door: chillies and pretties, and soon some more sunflowers in that pot.

Apart from all this, we are planning for winter, and have been planting seeds
(sunflowers)

Buying seedlings
(silverbeet, lettuce and eggplants)

And even digging garden beds in the cool of the evening.

I love going out in the cool, after the kids are in bed, to water and potter and weed and find surprises, like this one.

I don't remember planting anything in this pot- ah well, time will reveal what it is!

This post is brought to you by the Iphone app Instagram

2011-01-18T23:25:00.002+11:00

Well, not really. But I do love it!

There's been alot of holiday life living, kid wrangling, new year life organization, and avoidance of housework going on around here. Unfortunately, not alot of knitting or sewing.
But there has been Barbie-playing

And even jam-making! Look at these beautiful plums simmering away ...

And of course, miss4yo wanted to help, but the jam was a bit hot for 4yo hands, so instead she made a label, practicing her letters.

If you look really hard, it says 'Blum Jam' (she misheard me when I spelled out the words for her).

Pay it Forward 2011

2011-01-12T09:03:00.002+11:00

I promise something handmade to the FIRST 5 people who leave a comment here. However, to be eligible, you must re-post this message, offering something handmade to 5 other people. The rules are that it must be handmade by you, and it must be sent to your 5 giftees sometime in 2011. Ready, set, GO!
(via Green Valley Crafts )

*remember to leave me your email address, if it's not linked from your comment profile

The Holiday of a Million Coffees

2011-01-08T02:32:00.002+11:00

Don't get me wrong. I like coffee. I love it actually. I love the taste, the social side of it, the moment that is instantly created when a lovely warm cup is set down in front of you for you to enjoy.
But in the last two days, I've had a whole lot of coffee, so much so that today I had to stop drinking a beautiful cup halfway through it because I just couldn't do it, captain!
Yesterday I drank 4 coffees while traipsing around Melbourne via tram and my two feet.
Today, I drank 3 cups and stretched for (but didn't quite reach, I think) a new level in coffee snobbery.
This handsome man:

and I went to Market Lane, which is a specialty café and coffee roastery, located in the Prahran Market.

We were there to both taste their coffee normally (after a great experience there this time last year) and to do what's known in the coffee world as 'cupping'.

Now I know very little about this, but basically cupping is a way to learn about the flavour and character of different coffee beans, by smelling them when they're whole, after being ground, and tasting and scoring each bean on lots of different things like balance, acidity, flavor, and body.

Husband: in his absolute element.
Me: Completely out of my depth.

I felt nervous, I didn't want to say the wrong thing, and I was unsure what the procedure was (though it was explained to me very well, I was just wanting to be perfect at it first try!) so I felt a bit shy.

But we had a great time, and I certainly learned things and enjoyed myself, once I realized it wasn't a test and we were doing something pretty cool together.

My favourite was bean #5, and it turned out that the other three people in the room (who were all baristas!) thought it was the best one too- so maybe I'm not as unknowledgeable as I thought.

Work In Progress: Coffee Date Dress

2011-01-04T17:08:00.000+11:00

On a rainy day yesterday

I started taping the pages and pages and pages together to start making the Coffee Date Dress, a free multisized pattern from Burdastyle.

The pattern was sized from 34-42, and I actually sized it up another size to be safe (based on my measurements when referring to Burda's size chart), but it was time wasted as when i tried the dress on while sewing, it was too big in both the bodice and the skirt.

I'm sewing it out of a poly/cotton herringbone knit fabric with a little (but not too much) stretch to it.

This is where I'm up to...

The bodice is together, ruffle is done, bodice is sewn to the skirt, and it's waiting for a zipper (which needs to be bought today, frustrating as I thought I had one that I could use but it's not long enough) and the bottom hem to be sewn.

I'll see how the fit is after the zip is sewn in, but it may need some taking in again.

I'm using the Frock by Friday sewalong at Grosgrain for my instructions- it's been really helpful so far.
I've put myself on a bit of a self-imposed deadline for this dress as I'd really like to take it to Melbourne when my hubby and I (just us! No kids!) go on holiday there in a few days.

Apart from the lack of zipper, I had to down tools and stop sewing last night for another very important reason...

For my husband and I to celebrate our 7th wedding anniversary. In 7 years we've had 2 children, lived in 6 houses, and drunk a million coffees. I love you honey :)

A new look for a New Year

2011-01-01T14:04:00.000+11:00

Welcome to 2011, welcome to the new look around here.

Change is good ... yes?
I fight change most of the time. Big changes anyway. Little ones are fine, like the way a room might look in my house, or cutting my hair differently, or using a different fabric or wool in something I'm making than what I'd usually use. Thats fine.
But big ones? Not so great with those. I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and unfortunately hand in hand with that can come some control freak tendencies ... so big changes scare me, they make me feel out of control and like I don't know where to throw in the anchor or what to hold on to.

Having said all of that - like a lot of you, I'd like 2011 to be the year of some changes, both big and small, in my life. My husbands job is changing this year, my miss4yo will be off to preschool 3 days a week, and as of a few days ago, apparently we're toilet training mr2yo (I say 'apparently' cause his being 'ready' kind of snuck up on me - even though toilet training is obviously the end goal, I'd selfishly also like to just have him in nappies on my holiday so I can relax a bit more!). There's lots of stuff happening already for this control freak to get her head around.

But it's still exciting. I'm looking forward to what the year will bring. I'm looking forward to (fingers crossed!) having more time to be creative in whatever way, and am looking forward to including miss 4yo more and more in creative stuff.

I'd like to do more photography, learn more knitting techniques, finish the two quilts that I started for the kids a LONG time ago, do some more tutorials for this place, and get to know more lovely people out in the blogosphere.

Oh, and eating better, doing more exercise, having a cleaner house, being a better parent, and world peace would be nice too.

So bring it on 2011 - I'm ready.

What are you ready for this year?

A gift from Ysolda

2010-12-30T20:51:00.000+11:00

Well, I did pay for it ... But look what's arrived in my letterbox, having fought its way with the rest of the mail, out of the ice and snow, all the way from Scotland...

A package, wrapped in gorgeous blue tissue paper, tied with a teal ribbon, and with a very cute badge to hold it together...

My last Christmas present (which I ordered for myself and told my hubbie that it was from him), Whimsical Little Knits 2 by Ysolda Teague. I bought the first Whimsical Little Knits as a PDF file on Ravelry a year or so ago, and my printout of the Ishbel shawl particularly has been very well used and loved.
I read on Ysolda's blog that she was releasing a number of copies of this new collection for sale which would be dedicated personally to the recipients ... An offer which for me, was too good to refuse!

Am looking forward to reading and using this beautiful book, especially considering the dedication...

A bit of a Dory reference for the Pixar lovers amongst us... Just keep knitting, just keep knitting!

A big thanks to Ysolda and your elves- it made it here and you've made this knitter very happy!

Tutorial: How to Make Crayons

2010-12-30T08:42:00.003+11:00

My first tutorial, how very exciting!

I don't know about you, but my miss4yo and mr2yo break a wax crayon or two (the thin ones) almost every time they're used.
What is a thrifty mum to do with those broken crayons?
Make new ones!

Note: please make sure you're doing this in a well-ventilated area as our crayons were quite fumey when hot.

Step 1: Preheat oven to 180'C/350'F.

Step 2: Collect and de-wrapper broken crayons.

Step 3: Grease metal muffin tray (you could use a friand tin or mini muffin trays too, just would end up with a different shape at the end). Place crayons in the tin, either by colour (as we have done) or randomly to create rainbow crayons.

Step 4: Place in oven for 3-5 minutes, till crayons are melted.

Step 5: Place metal tray straight into the fridge (I put a teatowel down on the glass shelf and then put the tray on and shut the door).

Step 6: Open the windows, turn the exhaust fan on if need be like we did. Wait ;)

Step 7:
Tip crayons out of the tray when hard.

Step 8: Find the nearest child and get them to test drive them for you.

These circular crayons fit nicely in my miss4yo's hand and can be used in pencil-type grip if turned on their side.

Seriously, this was so easy, and was a great activity for miss4yo and I to do together (though she was shepherded quickly outside when the smells happened when I took the crayons out of the oven). She loved tearing the paper off the crayons and also liked having the decision-making power of which crayon went with which other colours.

Zeusbel is done.

2010-12-29T01:20:00.002+11:00

And it's lovely!

Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda (large ss, large lace)

Yarn: Laceweight 100% wool by Red Riding Hood Yarns in 'Zeus' colorway.

Blocking.

Wearing.

Loving it.

Even the dodgy photos taken on Christmas Eve in my Mother-in-law's bedroom, just before I wrapped it to give to my mum (who cried!) don't make me love it any less.
This one goes down as a win for Christmas knitting.

And so this is Christmas...

2010-12-24T16:39:00.002+11:00

Merry Christmas all. May your days be merry and bright... And full of new crafty supplies to make inspiring things in the new year :)

A photo catchup for the end of the year

2010-12-23T13:19:00.002+11:00

Things I forgot to blog about this year...

Counting the change jar. There was $78.05 in there- awesome!

Making flour tortillas. These were so yummy, definately in our arsenal now to make again and again.

Facepainted cuties. Mr2yo was a very cute tiger

Who'd had a big day that day.

And miss4yo was a lovely rainbow butterfly.

Swimming lessons started this year for both of the kids. They love it, and miss4yo especially is sad that there's no lessons now till January.

And a birthday present for a 1yo boy that I sewed. Groovy shorts...

For a groovy boy.

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas...

2010-12-22T08:00:00.002+11:00

Presents mostly made...

2x pairs of size 2 pajama shorts, one for my nephew, one for my mr2yo.

A jigsaw bag, also for the same nephew, which holds a wooden puzzle of a truck.

The size 14 Globetrotter socks for my big brother (modeled on my teeny size 7 feet!)

And two rice and lavender heat packs for my SIL and MIL. These have a calico inner bag and then a washable outer bag finished off with snaps.

Yes, the photos are dodgy and shadowy. Yes, I finished at 10:45pm last night and knew, tired as I was, that if I didn't take photos then, that they just wouldn't get taken.

I had big plans for a totally handmade Christmas this year, and if the goal was 100% handmade, or even 80 or 90% handmade, then I haven't made it this year.

There's really only one failure as such though; I had big plans for matching father and (2yo) son bbq aprons, appliquéd with the recipients initials and bound using my new Clover binding maker. But after a fight with said binding maker last night and neither the patience or energy to fiddle and make it work, those aprons (which are all cut out and waiting) might have to wait till Fathers Day.

Apart from these things, I'm also giving the yet to be blocked (eek! Running out of time!) Ishbel shawl, the previously shown cot quilt for my unborn-as-yet niece/nephew, and I will be making some rocky road to add to some other presents.

How are you traveling? 3 present-making days to go...

Taking a Christmas knitting break

2010-12-16T23:30:00.002+11:00

Cause my fingers are getting sore!
Yesterday morning I started winding the wool (Red Riding Hood Yarns sock in 'Posie of Pansies') for my last knitted (but I do have much more sewing to do!) Christmas present, a pair of Dolce socks for my lovely sisterinlaw.

This is where I'm up to with the pair... This far on sock #1:

So the cuff and leg are done, and I'm partway through the heel. I'm mentally flipping around between giving up (though there's still 8 days to go, I do have other things to do!) and getting seduced back by the amazing colours of the yarn (neither photo does it justice) and the easy to remember and addictive lace Dolce sock pattern. I'll keep you posted as to how I'm going- feel free to comment and cheer me on though!

I do have a finished object to block (woohoo!), the never-ending Zeus-bel, a large Ishbel shawl in laceweight Red Riding Hood Yarns 'Zeus' colourway which is a Christmas present for my mum, who is also a knitter so will hopefully appreciate all the work that went into it!
This photo was taken just as I started casting off- such a great feeling as it felt like it was just taking forever.

So obviously a photo shoot for that one will come soon too :)

In other tree-decorating news: we did find time to decorate the tree. It was a good family time. And since then I've been rescuing ornaments, tinsel and various tree things from the hands of mr2yo and miss4yo. I'm not sure how much longer the tree itself will be up for, but for now, most of the ornaments look like this:

Huddled together at the top of the tree for their own protection.

This is not a magical Christmas post

2010-12-10T23:37:00.001+11:00

But in the interest of honesty in blogging, this is what happened when we attempted to put up our Christmas tree today.

3:20pm: Put kids in the car to drive to pick husband up from work.

4:15pm: Husband late getting out of work. Kids starting to lose it. Mother of said children beginning to lose it also while waiting in car with losing-it children.

4:19pm: Husband in the car. Kids hysterical, but at least laughing not crying. Decide on the way home to buy takeaway for early dinner and put up Christmas tree with mr2yo and miss4yo when we get home. All imagine a magical Christmassy time.

5pm: Home. All fed and watered, mother and father start hunt for Christmas tree and decorations. Find one box of decorations/lights/tinsel which small children attack immediately amidst much voice-raising from mother of said small children. Play Mariah Carey's 'All I Want For Christmas Is You' and do some crazy dancing with enthusiastic small children.

5:10pm: Mother and father of the household realise that the reason that they cannot find the actual tree may be that they threw it out after last Christmas. Cannot clearly recollect this happening but believe this is probably so.

5:15pm: All family members back in the car. Off to a local shopping centre to buy a new tree. Small children on and off the shoulders of parental units, mr2yo mostly deciding he would rather run away giggling. More voice-raising.

5:20pm: Decide that at least 3 family members need new sunhats. Try to convince mr2yo that the full-brimmed plain sunhat is just as cool as the Thomas peaked cap he wants. Successful distraction technique employed.

5:30pm: Tree picked after much discussion, all back in the car to come home

6:00pm: Home. Small children very excited about putting up the tree. Parental energy levels waning.

6:10pm: Male of the house realizes how intricate/annoying multi-level 'hook construction' is when having mr2yo 'help'.

6:15pm: mr2yo and mother of the house sit down together to watch Wiggly Wiggly Christmas (a current favourite) while miss4yo and father build the tree.

6:25pm: Tree built. Play Celine Dion's version of 'O Holy Night' and begin to place lights on the tree. Small children beginning to lose it again; lounge-jumping and tinsel-tug-of-war attracting more voice-raising from the mother of the house.

6:30pm: Realise that set #1 of Christmas lights do not work. Place set #2 of lights onto the tree and realize that they are too small for the big tree we just bought.

6:35pm: Decide to forgo Christmas tree decorating for today. Kids go to bed. Mother of the house exhausted.

8:30pm: Kids still awake. Have removed their pajamas and mr2yo also nappy-less. Father of the house decides we should all go for a walk down the road to see a house with amazing Christmas lights.

8:35pm: Kids dressed in pjs, family of 4 walk outside on a beautiful summer night, talk to the sleepy mr2yo and miss4yo, see the Christmas lights, come home, kids to bed.

8:40pm: Cold Cider for mother, beer for father.
It's starting to feel like Christmas.

Today I'm doing this...

2010-12-06T13:41:00.002+11:00

And this ...

And am pleased with this one...

For both sleeping in a little this morning (7:45am instead of 6am!), and also having a day-sleep.

Back to the knitting while I can...

Why does it need to be perfect?

2010-12-02T19:14:00.002+11:00

When she's having this much fun making it?

Miss4yo and I put together and decorated a gingerbread house the other day. I bought the kit from my church (which had held a community event to make gingerbread houses) with premade and precut gingerbread, lollies to decorate, royal icing, and pins (important for the construction phase). Miss4yo and I were very excited to make our gingerbread house, and took the opportunity after Mr2yo fell asleep during his midday 'rest'.

We had a great time, mostly because my input into the project was purely in the construction of the house, and in assisting with decoration in this way ...

Yup. My job was to put the icing onto the things miss4yo was sticking onto the house.

If I'm being honest, I find it difficult not to take over. My internal perfectionist voice wants it to match, to be symmetrical, to look pretty, to turn out as something to be admired by others. But the thing is, if we made it like that, it would be ME making it like that, not both of us enjoying it together, and especially not Miss4yo being creative without me directing her in how to do that (read: creating a mini-me instead of allowing and encouraging her to be herself!). So I put the icing on the lollies, she stuck them on, we talked, laughed, and made frogponds (icing glooped onto the stand) with frogs (silver icing balls) and tadpoles (smaller sprinkles) and logs for them to sit on (licorice chocolate bullets).

And the outcome? Awesome on all counts. Yes we also have a finished gingerbread house, but we had a great time no matter what it turned out like.

This morning at my place

2010-11-30T08:15:00.002+11:00

3:59am: Household asleep.

4am: mr2yo climbed up into our bed. Didn't have the energy to take him back to his bed. He falls asleep and pushes me to the edge of the bed.

6am: Hubby gets up to get ready for work. miss4yo awake and runs into my bed, mr2yo stirs and I brace myself for him waking up.
They both settle in and snooze away- woohoo!

6:45am: mr2yo up, hubby asking me where his keys are. I get up to hang our with mr2yo and hubby makes me a coffee before he goes to work - what a legend of a hubby I have!

6:47am: Rice Bubbles and Weetbix with my mr2yo. He tells me about his spoon being a skateboard.

7am: While mr2yo rifles through the toys in our toyroom, I settle down onto our lounge with a blanket to watch him play. Cold in our house this morning, raining outside.

7:05am: He joins me and we watch some kid tv snuggled up in our blanket, listening to the rain.

7:30am: He informs me it's time for yoghurt. I make him a bowl of yoghurt and apple slices to dip in it, which he loves. While he's eating I pack 2 lunchboxes for when we'll go to playgroup later today.

7:40am: More lounge blankets for me, playing with blocks for him.

8:10am- miss4yo still asleep. Toy Story 2 playing in the background. Will have to wake her up soon. I think about writing a blog post.

How's your morning so far?

It's been awhile...

2010-11-14T19:59:00.002+11:00

I think Blogtoberfest might have worn me out!
So many posts in one month...
Anyone else feeling it?

I got my 100purewool delivery though :)
It's lovely lovely lovely!

Need to wind it. And pet it some more. And then decide what to knit with it.

Who knew...

2010-11-04T10:02:00.002+11:00

They made bowling shoes this small?

So he could do this?

Who knew... I'd find hand-winding 100g of laceweight wool therapeutic?

And who knew such joy could come from making little Cupcake stands (courtesy of Lovely Little Parties)?

(there's 6 in a pack, but we just made two for now).

You say goodbye, and I say Hello ...

2010-11-02T22:30:00.001+11:00

Hello, hello :)

A quilt. The quilt. The first quilt I ever quilted. I'm sure, in years to come, this blog post will be looked at by myself as some kind of 'whoa, that really sucked!' moment, or perhaps a 'I seriously gave that away? But it's not perfect! What was I thinking?' moment.

Either way, it's done, washed on hot and shrunk a little in the drier for some crinkly goodness, and I'm going to show it to you.

Disclaimer: I was home alone with two 'resting' children when taking these photos. It is actually straight in real life.

The middle panel, right and left sides, and backing are all upcycled from a 'quilt' (by which I mean, some thick polyester ripped batting in the middle, the only quilting stitched in a big rectangle near the edge) I found at our church's Market Day (kindof like a fair) last year.The rest of the fabrics are yellows from stash.

Have a look at the quilting. See how brave I am for posting these pics?

And the backing. A strategically placed photo to not show too much of the pulls in the fabric.

So why goodbye? This first of mine is going in the quilting world is going to be a Christmas present for a not-yet-born niece or nephew of mine. And they will not care about the imperfections that I see - it will hopefully keep them warm - we've given it lots of hugs for them already.

And hello? I have something delicious to introduce to you - my latest purchases from Red Riding Hood Yarns - 'Walk in the Woods' in sock yarn and 'Zeus' in laceweight (eek!).

These colours are amazing (truer in this photo though)- aren't you glad I introduced you?

And the winner of the Giveawayis ...

2010-10-30T22:31:00.001+11:00

Catherine from pencils and pins!

Will get in touch with you tomorrow to organise your package delivery :)

Thanks again to all who entered the draw.

Giveaway is now closed

2010-10-30T00:27:00.002+11:00

Thanks to all who entered, to those who went to see Lovely Little Parties, and to those who became followers of my blog :)

The draw will take place tomorrow (Saturday). I'd do it now, but I'm very very tired. My machine came back (woohoo!) from the repairer (more on that in a future post) and I've been doing this...

And this ...

And even this!

Come back and see me tomorrow and we'll see who the winner is!

My day-late creative space

2010-10-29T14:53:00.002+11:00

What's in the cupboard?

This loveliness :)

My sewing machine is at the repairer, and I feel a little like my arm has been cut off! In her absence, I thought I might show you my sewing space.
So, obviously that's my fabric cupboard. Holds everything fabric-y (other than nappy fabrics) - cottons, knits, sweatshirting, merino, randoms like sheer fabrics, blue velvet (?), patterns, and quilting stuff on the bottom shelf.

This is my machine, an Elna Jubilee from the 80's. Solid, reliable, mechanical, I know it. Can rely on it to do a great job.

And in it's natural habitat

Which is in our playroom, in one of these

A Horn sewing cabinet, inherited by me from some of hubby's relatives who were downsizing. Would I like it? Yes please!!
Some of my wool stash lives next to it.

And it looks like this in the sun :)

This is my high-tech quilting setup ;)

And I think these pictures are cute.

I told the machine repairer that my machine was like one of my children.
I eagerly await its return.

Giveaway time!

2010-10-28T19:23:00.004+11:00

Giveaway is now closed - see above posts for the winner!

Time to share the love :)

Want to win this cool mix of stuff?

* 100g of Recycled Fibre yarn.
* A very cute book (lightly read) about how to make costumes for little ones.
* 1m of Vintage decorator-weight purple paisley fabric.

Seriously, how cute are these?

If you want to win, there's a couple of ways you can score an entry.

#1 : Go visit a new web business a friend of mine in Oz has started, Lovely Little Parties. She sells kids party invites, lolly bags, cute charity Christmas gift tags ... Go see, pick your favourite thing, and come back and comment on this post and tell me what it is = 2 entries

#2 : Put a shout-out on your blog and a link for Lovely Little Parties for your readers to check out, then tell me via comment on this post that you've done it = 2 entries

#3 : Become a follower of my blog = 1 entry

Entry is open to readers anywhere, and will close midnight October 30th. Draw and announcement of the winner will take place October 31st.

Happy playing!

Aaaaaaaaaaauuuuugggggghhhhh!

2010-10-27T19:56:00.001+11:00

There's been waaaaaay too much unpicking instead of sewing going on in this baby quilt.

I think the timing might be out in my machine, I've broken/bent 4 needles while freemotion quilting within a very short space of time. I never break needles really in normal sewing, but even during my previous 5ish first hours of quilting, there was not a needle bent or broken.
And the upper thread keeps breaking, which is NOT something my lovely Elna ever does. It seems to actually be getting stuck in the upper tension discs, which, again, is not something my machine does. Sigh.

So now to find a servicing person who can fix it and get it back to me asap ... There's Christmas sewing to do!

Will be back a bit later with some giveaway news (come on, better late than never isn't it?).

Enjoying the process

2010-10-25T14:40:00.001+11:00

After being slightly out of the home loop for the last couple of days, I've been trying to slow down and enjoy the little things today.

Some baking with the kids...

Some 'balls' for morning tea...

The surprising beauty found when chopping vegies.

Even the simplicity of a freshly mopped floor feels good, feels like a little victory today.

In other process news, there's been a WIP (work in progress) that's been shelved for a little while due to kids bedtime issues and sickness, but maybe blogging about it will give me some motivation to get the sewing machine out again.

My first quilt - well, it's really the first one to practice quilting on, then I'll do the two for Miss4yo and Mr2yo.
It's 3/4 quilted, freemotion with my new foot for my old Elna Jubilee sewing machine, and, as you can see by the foldmarks and wrinkles, has been put away for a couple of weeks now. Even within this cot sized quilt, my freemotion quilting has been improving in teeny tiny steps.
This was the start...

See how uneven and pulled it is?

Then about halfway through...

Weird spacing much?

And towards the end...

Much happier with that.

And it's good to know that with practice, I'll become more confident too.

It's quite freeing, this process stuff. It's almost as if these moments are the golden ones, the real ones, the ones I usually rush by to get to the finish line faster.

I wish I could take photos with my eyes.

2010-10-24T20:23:00.001+11:00

I love photography. I love the way it catches a moment in time and lets us look at it, ponder it a moment, wonder at the details that otherwise can get lost as the minutes and hours and days go by. I love my beautiful Canon digital SLR camera, and the way I can play and see what images I can try and capture. I don't know a lot about the technical side of photography, which I feel frustrated by cause i cant always make photos look like i want them to.

But I know what I like. And I know what I want to take photos of, as I look through the lenses of my eyes, I see the detail or the action or the tender moment that I just wish I had a camera to capture, and the technical knowledge to be able to photograph it like I see it.

Tonight was like that.
Mr2yo was requesting cuggles (cuddles) from mummy as he was meant to be going to sleep. I've spent most of today sleeping as I haven't been feeling great, so he was potentially feeling the lack of mummy time.

I lay my head down on his pillow, tucked the blanket around him, listened to his breathing, and drunk in the simple, amazing beauty of that moment. His round cheeks, his eyelashes, his lips pressed together, his tiny nostrils moving slightly as he breathed in, and out.

I wished I had a camera, because I wanted to capture it all. I wanted to be able to remember forever, to breathe in that moment when he was small and wanted mum and, snuggled up in his blanket, was completely and perfectly content.

So I took a mental picture instead, and thanked God for this beautiful creature that I get to look after and cuggle.

Am not feeling great

2010-10-24T13:26:00.001+11:00

And am quite behind in blogtoberfest.
So am substituting a photo of my boy for an actual post.

Googly eyes anyone?

If he was going to do this anyway

2010-10-22T07:56:00.001+11:00

Couldn't he have done it at 5:30am instead of now?

He's not asleep, just snuggling into a lounge cushion watching tv.
Sigh.
A mama needs her sleep! We'll see what the day brings.

Today's creations

2010-10-21T22:42:00.001+11:00

1. A sleep-in for me (courtesy of the best husband in the world).

2. Mint and sweet potato soup to use up some veggies. Mmm I love soup.

3. Some 'letters' that Miss4yo decided to write to thank people for coming to her birthday party. Which was a month ago. Her idea, such a sweet girl that one.
She had fun with stickers and pencils and envelopes.

And the baby girl thankyou notepaper I bought to use to thank people for the presents they gave us when she was born. At least someone is using it!

4. The start of sock #2 using my lovely Red Riding Hood Yarns 'Woodcutter' sock wool. Still loving this.

What did you create today?

Some days are just golden.

2010-10-21T14:33:00.001+11:00

We hung out with a lovely friend the other day - her daughter had had her 2yo birthday party the day before so there were yummy leftovers to eat!
Our kids get on well, and we had such a lovely morning together.
It consisted of yummy food (no pics of that as we were too busy eating!) and alot of this ....

Rolling down their backyard in lots of different cars!

Then, after they were sick of that, there was some swinging to do on their balcony.

Just the right size for two little people :)

The kids were happy, we were happy, it was a golden morning together.

We came home, and I decided that we'd cook some microwave popcorn.
I put the corn kernels in, turned the microwave on, and then ducked out of the kitchen for a second. Just for a second.
And this happened.

What is it, you ask?

Always watch the popcorn.

So I figure I have some catching up to do

2010-10-20T14:11:00.001+11:00

I was going so well with Blogtober and posting every day.

And then life happened ... Ah well. Better to be honest and go easy on myself and just get on with the job rather than eating helpings of guilt!

On Monday, while the kids and I were waiting for my hubby to finish at the doctor, we went for a walk down the street that the doctors was in, and found, what we call in Australia, an Op Shop (from the name Opportunity Shop), but what you might call a thrift store. We had a bit of a browse (going through a little shop with a stroller is never easy!) and found some cool stuff.
First, a book on sewing with knit fabrics - KnitWit.

And this beautifully colored one too

Which has some very cool stuff inside (sorry for the photos all being upside down, I can't fix that on my iPhone unfortunately)

Including a section on tailoring techniques

And even hand-sewing too

I feel like it's something that will be well-loved by me :)
The lady serving at the counter tried to only charge me $1.50, for both awesome books! I paid her what I thought they were really worth though ;)
And I also got a queenside sheet set (but its two flat sheets) in this gorgeously girly print

Which is destined for use in quiltmaking :)

We scored! And we had fun too.

My hubby is getting slowly better as the days go on, but he's still not 100%. Thank goodness for modern medicine.

Things are dire here

2010-10-18T08:29:00.001+11:00

No post yesterday. And this morning I'm drinking instant coffee, just for the caffiene.

Hubby is sick, has been since Saturday. Doctors appt for him this morning.
So kids and I are up, and there's no real coffee in my future this morning. Hence the instant coffee for caffeine purposes only.

Will come back tonight with tonights post.

I don't often buy yarn

2010-10-16T21:42:00.000+11:00

But this was too hard to say no to ;)

Some of the lovely ladies on a nappy forum I frequent have just done a HUGE co-op order from 100purewool, who stock hand-painted wool in beautiful colourways, in lace, fingering and worsted weights. The pictures of their haul were amazing!
I've also been thinking about diving into the lace knitting gauntlet to knit the Whisper Cardigan, like many other bloggers and ravelry-ians at the moment.

So with the Aussie dollar so good at the moment, I got out my trusty Debit Card and bought some yumminess.
I got two skeins of this in laceweight

And one skein of this in fingering weight

Pretty good deal I thought, about $30AU for 3 skeins of 100g. Now, to stalk the letterbox :)

The halfway point of Christmas present #1

2010-10-15T22:59:00.001+11:00

Celebrate good times, come on!

I do like it when there's a definate halfway point. Or just any tangible measuring-your-progress-while-knitting-man-socks points.

Friday nights are full of knitting and home makeover tv in this house for the mum of the family, and even though it took 2 hours for Mr2yo to go to sleep and 1.5 hours for Miss4yo, I did manage to sneak in a bit of both knitting and tv. If only I wasn't so tired I could do a bit more of both.

What did you do with your Friday night?

My creative space

2010-10-14T21:49:00.001+11:00

Is not that creative today.
It's 9:44pm, Mr2yo has been asleep for 45 minutes after earlier sneakily ingesting an amount of Baby Vicks (so the Poisons Control helpline told us to keep him up for an hour), Miss4yo is still awake.

I'm sitting down to my knitting, but I don't feel the mojo tonight.
The going-to-bed-dramas are really taking it out of me. Any advice appreciated!

I'm sorry, but this is not a post.

2010-10-13T22:14:00.001+11:00

It's just a photo.
But look at the teeny little bean!!!

Nature is awesome.

Another truthful Tuesday

2010-10-12T17:17:00.001+11:00

I've been trying to declutter, corner by corner, shelf by shelf. It's not easy to find places for things that don't already have a place, but I find throwing stuff out to be very satisfying! And the end result is always worth it.

Two declutters for today:
My cookbooks used to look like this:

And now they look like this:

I got rid of some we have never used, recycled the mini phone directory also never used, put the first-aid manuals with the medicine box... Generally sorted. Nice.

Next stop, the kids books. Used to look like this:

And now looks like this:

I got rid of ripped, unreadable books, and am taking some away to a bookswap I'm going to.

And in the spirit of Truthful Tuesdays, here is another washing lounge. Different lounge, different clean washing, same story.

I like Tuesdays, washing lounge and all.

5 Joyful Things For Monday

2010-10-11T21:55:00.001+11:00

1. Walking through my garden, munching on a snow pea grown with love by me and my awesome Miss4yo.

2. Knitting while the kids rest after lunch and watching Mr2yo fight off sleep.

3. Antibiotics for my sore eye - amen for modern medicine.

4. A long bath after my kids were both asleep by 7:30pm - Mr2yo may have fallen asleep in his sister's bed but asleep is asleep and he's transferable!

5. Microwave popcorn - yum!

Yesterdays post

2010-10-11T09:58:00.001+11:00

Is happening this morning. I'm ok with it and so should you be :)

So, as you can probably surmise, the mission in the last two nights has been to get Mr2yo to do this:

In here:

Yes, it has pink sheets. He's ok with it.

On Saturday, amidst all the clothes sorting, I took off the side of his cot to make a big boy bed, as he was climbing out and I didn't want him to get hurt. There were suggestions from friends of putting him in a sleeping bag to try and stop the climbing, but I didn't want to do that as we'd have to do the big boy bed thing eventually anyway.
The first night was disaster. Miss4yo and mr2yo are now sharing a room, so he just played and ran around and in the end we put him in another room in a portable cot.
Last night was much better, though still difficult. We started putting him to bed at 7:30pm (later than usual as we'd been at church) and he fell asleep around 9:45pm. She then fell asleep around 10pm. He kept getting out, and we tried the Supernanny technique of putting him back, no talking, no eye contact. For a first night I think we did ok, but we'll see how tonight goes.

The only bit of creativity I can show you is this:

But I'm glad I'm at the halfway point, even if it is still sock #1!

8:40pm and 9:40pm

2010-10-09T21:53:00.001+11:00

Are the times my two children fell asleep tonight, 2yo first and 4yo last. After bedtime started at 7pm. Sigh.

Which has severely cut into the knitting I was planning on doing, I'm up to the heel on my Globetrotter socks in the yummy Red Riding Hood Yarns sock wool.

But that's ok. I've done quite alot today, and though I have no photos to show you, hopefully my description will be enough for a virtual pat-on-the-back from Blogworld!

My kids have alot of clothes. Miss 4yo more so, as she has a few girls that send grown-out-of clothes her way. And when mine grow out of their clothes, I've been shamefully doing the big-pile-of-clothes-in-the-corner thing to deal with them. We also had 8 plastic bags of random sized clothes and shoes from other people.
And the pile was getting pretty big, and threatening to swallow up all who came near.

So today, in my kids 'rest time', I attacked the pile. And the bags. And I won! The pile and bags are now sorted and in different bags for too small, miss 4yo's clothes to grow into, mr 2yo's clothes to grow into. I also went through miss 4yo's drawers that were getting hard to close, and took out all the too-small stuff.

Though I do hate to double handle, they will again be gone through as I'm attending a kids clothes swap in a few days and want to get rid of a fair bit. I feel really good, as it was something I'd wanted to get through for awhile now, but was a bit scared of the size of the job if I'm honest!

So no craftiness for today. But I still feel accomplished, even if now I'm ready for bed after battling wits with the small ones for 2 and a half hours!

Frustration

2010-10-08T21:51:00.001+11:00

I've been putting my kids to bed for almost 4 hours. My 2yo son just figured out two mornings ago that he can climb out of his cot. Our household has gone from a peaceful place to a sleep-less (nights and mornings) place of frustration.

Thank goodness for the peace in my garden.
A hopeful bean ...

And some snow peas that just keep growing.

I have to go put him back in bed again. *sigh*

Gotta post before bed ...

2010-10-07T22:19:00.001+11:00

So some thankfulness this Thursday.

Thankful for time for gardening: this-

Became this-

And very thankful for these two!

Oh, and definately thankful for coffee too :)

A day with the family

2010-10-06T20:47:00.000+11:00

Today was our scheduled family day in the week, and we crammed alot into our day together.
There was some bike riding to be done at a bike park, complete with roads, a roundabout and traffic lights!

Sometimes we stopped to eat cake ...

And go home and do some knitting. Still sock #1. Sigh. But the wool is lovely!

While I was at home, I was inspired to clean up some clutter after coming across this awesome blog last night. I was having trouble sleeping, and I read most of the posts on the blog and then turned off my iPhone at 1am! Clutter is definately a big problem in our house, for a couple of reasons. Obviously reason #1 is that we have too much stuff, but reason #2 is that when I clean, I get distracted. Go into another room to put something away, get distracted in there, start cleaning, go into another room to put something away .... and the cycle continues.
So today I picked 2 corners of my house to clean, and I didn't get distracted! I was pleased with my efforts. Might show some before and after pictures another day.

We finished the day with another bike ride, this time by the ocean, followed by pizza and icecream (which we paid for when we had two sugared up kids in the car on the way home!)
Awesome family day :)

Truthful Tuesday

2010-10-05T20:03:00.001+11:00

I've been inspired by a fellow blogger to present a true picture of what my life was today, without using posed photos and only showing the good bits and conveniently leaving out the everyday!

So. This is what one of my lounges looks like today.

It's looked like it all day and I just can be bothered cleaning it.
It's clean washing. I hate folding.

That's my little bit of truthfulness in blogging photos today.

Today I made 3 bowls of cereal, 3 ham and cheese sandwiches, refilled water bottles 4 times, did 2 loads of washing, stripped and cleaned a queensize bed that miss 4yo had had an accident on, did a load of dishes in the dishwasher, swept the floor, supervised bike riding, gave out 100 arrowroot biscuits, cooked burritos for dinner, put both kids to bed, and am now sitting down to tv, blogging, and new Survivor on tv!

And house chaos still reigns around me. But for now, I choose to ignore it.

What did you do today? Tell the truth, now ;)

Day 4, j'adore...

2010-10-04T22:36:00.001+11:00

It was a public holiday here in oz today, and I woke to a very swollen left eye - no idea what happened but I blame hayfever and scratching it whilst I was asleep.

Anyway, because of both of those things, not much was done around here today. However, there was just a little of this

And a fair bit of this- on a new running bike no less!

Happy long weekend to those who experienced it and those who are living vicariously.

The thrill of the new.

2010-10-03T20:55:00.001+11:00

I'm not sure what it is about starting a new project ...

But it's a great feeling.

Almost as good as finishing :)

Size 4, Oriental Lily with short sleeves, knitted entirely from stash acrylic. Why acrylic? Because the 4yo in question decided she wanted it to be pink and purple, and I didn't have enough pink and purple wool.
As it is acrylic, I obviously can't block it, and the bottom hem is curling up. Ah well, life goes on. It's kinda cute I think.

And a before bed shot (yes, she did wear it to bed also!) in the bathroom to show the short sleeves. Apologies for the dodgy bathroom lighting.

It's a bit big for her in the bodice, but that's ok, it'll just fit her for a bit longer.

Now, off to keep knitting with my lovely Red Riding Hood Yarns 'Woodcutter' sock wool.

2 posts in 2 days...

2010-10-02T19:48:00.002+10:00

So far so good :)

A lovely friend of mine had her birthday today, and I decided to make her some things to pamper herself with.
I bought some body lotion, a scented candle, a nail file (I know, but it was cute!), some chocolate, and made her these.

Yes, that is my unmown lawn and compost bin in the background!

The red one I knitted a long time ago (and had in our present box) from 8ply cotton, the others I crocheted with a 4mm hook as granny squares from 8ply bamboo (blue green and purple cloth) and 8ply organic cotton yarn (brown cloth). I made the brown one last night and the blue one today.
I put a note on the card saying 'you can use them as face cloths or dishcloths, but either way know that they are made with love'.

I have to say, I was loving making the granny squares! So quick, so gratifying, especially after the marathon stocking stitch of Miss 4yo's Pink Lily.

But more of that for another day :)

Happy Blogtoberfest to you all!

2010-10-01T20:43:00.000+10:00

I'm scared already of not making a post per day - I almost didnt post today!
But we are a bit of a sickly household again, dagnammit.

I do hate to see them sick, we're all getting over a tummy bug but I think the small ones are on the better end of it - Miss 4yo came out of bed before and informed me she couldnt sleep cause she was hungry as she hadn't eaten enough today! So she took an apple to bed. Must remember to go in and get the core before I also go to bed.

Though they arent asleep, the small ones are in bed, and the knitting and tv has begun for the night.
I'm knitting away on miles and miles of stocking-stitch on the bottom of my 4yo's Oriental Lily dress.

What are you up to tonight?

No matter how bad a night sleep I've had

2010-09-27T11:01:00.001+10:00

I do love to come and sit at my dining room table in the morning sun.

When I've actually dragged myself out of bed, that is!

I received a lovely package from Red Riding Hood Yarns last week, and have been admiring the yarn ever since.

Both sock yarn, in 'Woodcutter' and 'Posie of Pansies' colourways.

Neither of the photos show the richness of the colours. Yum!
I did have plans that Woodcutter would become Christmas present socks but but now that it's here... It might need to be a shawl or something for me for next winter.

It's been awhile since my last yarn purchase ... And I think I made a good one this time :)

If a picture is worth a thousand words... Then what do a thousand pictures equal?

2010-09-25T21:39:00.001+10:00

A big catch-up post!!

So. Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start...

I have been sewing a fair bit with knit fabrics lately, thanks to my trusty overlocker and to the purchase of some yummy merino fabric from New Zealand.
Now, just to clarify, I think I bought the fabric in July? And it's now September. I bought it for this winter.
Sigh.
Part of what it was bought for was to make some cycling jerseys for my husband instead of paying $70-120AU each.
Sorry about the crappy just-out-of-the-washing-basket photos, but here are some of the creations.

Firstly, baby blue and chocolate brown. I really like the neckline on this one...

Apart from the slight catch at the front.

Secondly, black and red.

They really do look better on than hanging!

And a shirt for me, not from
Merino but from random purple stash knit. This shirt is not long enough. So will probably not get worn alot, I can't cope with shirts that ride up!

I love that the differential feed on my overlocker copes so well with sewing the knit fabrics, and I can even say I'm not so scared of necklines anymore, but I just hate hemming on my sewing machine when I can't get the finish I want.
Coverstitch machine anyone? ;)

And also a garden update for you all.
Spring has sprung in a big way, and I'm loving the gifts it has brought with it.
My lavender, which did not flower at all last year, has given us some beautiful blooms after being repotted.

My lettuce and spinach (one of 4 plants) are going well...

And the strawberry leaves are bigger every day. Now, some fruit please!

And the broadbeans. It feels like they've been there forever, with no beans, and I was even considering ripping some of them out, until I saw ...

Wahoo!! Bring it on, we've got heaps of plants so hopefully heaps of beans to come.

And also for summer salads, some rocket (one of 4-5 plants) for your perusal ...

Snowpeas (these are in the last weeks I think, we've had heaps of snowpeas while hanging out the washing!)...

Beans to climb the fence ...

And tomatoes, both big ...

And small :)

Herbs to go with the salads? Sure!
Thai basil from a cutting?

Normal basil (one of three)?

Or is mint more your preference?

A bit of heat with some chillis too.

Sometimes it's nice to end the meal with a nice homegrown blueberry (if the free plant given to us from the nursery can be nursed back to life!)

And even though I'm not going to eat them, I'm loving the simple beauty in the flowers in my garden too.

There's something so lovely about sunshine, green gardens, and new things coming to life.

Baby Bunting

2010-09-18T20:03:00.003+10:00

I love bunting. There's something so happy and festive and smile-giving and decorative about the colourful fabrics all strung up in a row.

I recently participated in a bunting swap on a nappy forum I'm on, where a group of us sent sets of 15 fabric triangles (all cut from the same online template) cut from our own stashes (so 30 individual cut triangles, but in pairs of the same fabric) to the organizer, who then mixed them all up and sent them back to us.

I was lucky enough to get back enough for two sets, and I sorted them into one light and pink and girly set for my 4yo girl, and one bright and colourful and fun set for my 2yo boy.

So yesterday, determined to get out of my creative funk, I sewed up not one, but TWO strings of bunting.

Girly goodness :)

And funky colours for my boy
:)

I really love this one!

I learned some things while sewing these two.
Firstly - even though thinner, store-bought binding (as shown on the girly bunting) seems like it'd be harder to sew than wider, home-made binding (as shown on my boy's bunting) ... it's not. And the finished bunting hangs much better.

Secondly - colours are fun to play with, so play! Be brave. And if you're not sure of a particular flag, just don't put it in. I was unsure about the flag 4th from the left on my girl's bunting, and I should have just left it out.

Thirdly - if you want your bunting to hang evenly with a middle hook, then it needs to have an even number of flags. Otherwise you may need to improvise (as conveniently hidden in the bottom photo of the boy bunting).

I can definately see myself sewing some more of these in the future.

A sneak peek

2010-09-17T16:53:00.002+10:00

At some leftovers from today's creations...

The frustration has lifted! Awesome. Just have to buy some hooks to display the finished objects and then you'll see what's made me smile today.

Frustration.

2010-09-15T18:21:00.002+10:00

It used to be that I loved fabric shops. If i was having some child-free 'me time', I'd even choose to go to them over having a sleep, and that's saying something! I'd wander the aisles, stroking the fabric, loving the colours and prints, my brain going a million miles an hour imagining all the creations I could make.

But lately, I haven't had quite the same energy about fabric shopping.

It's not that I don't want to create. Or that the lovely patterns and textures don't still call my name.

The problem is, there's too many things that I want to make. Too many things that I've been planning for awhile and still haven't gotten around to doing. Too much fabric that I bought for a particular project, washed, dried, and put in the cupboard. Too many patterns that I want to try. Too many things for Christmas, or birthdays, or just because. Too many ideas running around in my brain, taking up space until they get made.

I'm just a bit exhausted by it all. I don't know where or what to start.
Yet I still want to create. It's very frustrating.

So I haven't been fabric shopping lately. Which, though has been good for the bank balance, has been, as I said before, just plain frustrating.

And don't even get me started on knitting.

Speaking of which, I did start a new knitting wip for my girl's birthday in August. I refuse to feel guilty that it's not finished yet, and am chugging away on it as the mood and late-night-tv takes me.

Hope all of you are much less creatively frustrated than I'm feeling today :)

Some inspiration from a sick household.

2010-09-08T15:56:00.001+10:00

The mumma and dadda in our house have had fevers and aches and tummy pains so far this week. We are on the mend (hence blogging now!) but are still not 100%. The kids seem to have escaped, thank goodness, though them having normal energy levels has been quite trying! But they are lovely.

So in these situations, when you cant even turn to chocolate or coffee for comfort, my visual nature finds rest and inspiration in some internet bloggy goodness.

Lucy at attic24 has a beautiful blog, and such a beautiful way of writing and bringing us all into the life of her little family. Her crafty goodness is totally inspiring, and her love and joy in her family shines through every post. Do check her out :)

In new yarny goodness, a yarn-dyeing goddess on a cloth nappy forum I frequent has just started a new yarny business Red Riding Hood Yarns and they are amazing! If I wasn't on a self-imposed try-and-knit-what-i-already-have yarn buying ban, I would have at least three of the colourways on their way across the ditch from New Zealand :)

And a friend from the same forum, Sheryl from Shortly Stitches has been inspiring me with her photos of her spring garden blooming, and her scrummy new hat knitting pattern Benji (scroll down her blog to see the post 'Benji at the beach') which is available for purchase here on Ravelry. Have a look, you know you want to :)

What's been inspiring you lately?

weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

2010-09-01T16:26:00.000+10:00

Not the bodily fluid kind (!). But the excited "woohoo!" exclamation when something really exciting happens .... like a darning foot for your sewing machine arriving in the mail.

Now, I did receive this about a week ago, but as all mothers with small children can probably appreciate, I had to wait until the stars aligned significantly for the smaller one to be asleep, the bigger one to be significantly distracted enough, and my energy levels to be enough to set up the machine, sort through the fabric, and to be brave enough to try and attach it to my machine when I've never even seen one in real life before!

And so all of that happened. And I took a deep breath ... and played a little.

You can see my attempts at getting the right tension on the bottom of that photo!

And I smiled. Such a long time thinking and doubting and thinking and waiting, so much worry about "will it fit my old machine?", "will I be able to lower the feed dogs?"...

But it was fine. And I'll practice, and it'll be a new skill to learn.
And it's ok that I'm not perfect at it straight away ;)

The first practice attempt was this potholder ... that my little girl informs me will be a pillow for her Barbie. Fine with me!

Which is not as wavy as it appears.

Red cotton, pink poly/cotton fleece, red gingham. Fine for a practice!

Off to google more freemotion quilting help ... anyone got any tips or suggestions for me?

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

2010-08-27T06:55:00.001+10:00

SILHOUETTE MACHINE GUEST GIVEAWAY!!!!

Grosgrain is an amazing blog that I'm a follower of. Inspiring clothes, tutorials on the 'scary' bits of sewing to kick you into gear, a Very Cool Sewalong series called 'A Frock By Friday', and now, a giveaway of a Silhouette Machine - I'm not sure how it could get much cooler really!
If I won the machine, the first thing I would make would be a princess castle for the wall of my soon-to-be 4yo's bedroom. Amazing that the machine can do even that!

But to you, my readers, have a look at Grosgrain. Click there for the giveaway but stay for the awesome inspiration :)

A gift for a lovely bub.

2010-08-24T12:45:00.001+10:00

I do love knitting for friends. What's even better is when it's a surprise- so there's no deadlines other than my own. I love putting love into something crafty and giving it away.

Size 1, reclaimed cotton from a thrift store sweater, Milo.

It's brown. And yummy.

And it's done :) I do love a good FO photoshoot.

Unblocked, hence the waviness.

And the squiggliness of the cotton.

I have so many projects in my head. Now to find a way to start and finish them in less time than this one took!

Too tired for too many words.

2010-08-08T19:23:00.002+10:00

So let's let the pictures tell the story.

Garden love.

Finished socks.

Sore feet.

Washing.

Tired eyes.

Feeling poorly

2010-07-24T19:31:00.002+10:00

Yup. Not feeling great, and so very little craftiness has been going on in my household.
Just some of this

And blanket time.

Wish I had some lovely FO objects to show you, but alas, you'll have to be appeased with this small FO from our garden.

Do you think we picked it too soon?

Dearest Dolce Sock #1

2010-07-16T21:20:00.002+10:00

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry for the way I've been acting.
I'm sorry for the way I've been talking about you.
I'm sorry that I've chosen other projects over you, and yes, even started other projects to avoid spending time with you.

I know it would have hurt, and I'm sorry.

But Dolce, please forgive me. You really are so lovely, and now that we've been spending time together really trying to figure out how each of us work, I have to say, I really do respect you. You are beautiful.

Thanks Dolce for being patient with me.

I see alot of time together in our future.

P.S. Dolce, this might be asking too much, especially considering our recent separation, but if you could somehow work out to be the perfect fit for your recipient, I might even make you some brothers and sisters.

My creative space

2010-07-15T13:06:00.003+10:00

My first creative space post :) - play along here at kootoyoo

Well, it's Thursday, my little boy is asleep, and my creative space is full of a cosy blanket, some tv watching, and a sock that is frustrating me. But I want to move past the frustration, so I can finish it and move on to less frustrating creations!

Sigh. Here I go, wish me luck...

A mixed bag of a day.

2010-07-11T19:13:00.002+10:00

We've had highs and lows in our house today.
From a sad boy who I think is getting a 2yo molar...

To a very happy 3yo whose mum finished her new shirt!

The ruffle at the bottom is driving me crazy, but short of adjusting it every time she moves (!) I'm just going to have to let that go.

"Summer Ruffled Top", a free top-down seamless pattern for 8ply, knitted from stash in yummy chocolate brown and pink 100% wool.
I knitted the 3-5t size, and it's as written, apart from being 1" shorter at the bottom than suggested. I was worried at that point that I wouldn't have enough brown left to finish the sleeves, and this is how much wool I had left over...

so I was pretty close!

We finished off the modelling session with a Tea Party. As you do.

This might not seem exciting to you

2010-07-09T20:32:00.001+10:00

But to me, this is pretty darn good for a Friday night!

Champagne.

The remote.

Knitting and tv.

I mean yes, it would be better with the addition of chocolate or yummy snacks, but beggars can't be choosers!

Everyone else is asleep, it's only 8:30, and I've got a few hours of knitting and good tv in front of me.

So what makes a good Friday night for you?

Pink and chocolate

2010-07-08T21:59:00.002+10:00

I love pink and chocolate brown.
In knitting...

In hot beverages ;)

But this chocolate didn't last long!

I love the way that colours can soothe, or excite, or make you smile... I find it amazing that something your eye interprets as a particular shade or hue can affect your mood.
Back to the chocolate brown knitting :)

What do you do when...

2010-07-06T21:00:00.002+10:00

You don't have enough stitches after the heel turn on a sock pattern you haven't knitted before, and you don't have enough brain space to figure out what went wrong?

You cast on something new in bigger yarn. Because bigger yarn makes me feel better somehow, like it's not mocking me with it's small stitches that are stupid to undo and redo and... Just stupid.

This will be a ruffled shirt for my 3yo girl, knit top down in stash 8ply 100% wool ... The ribbed section is the collar.

And you also buy these

So you can plan another project to further avoid the stupid stupid socks.
*sigh*