Finished Gloves

A pair of finished Fetching gloves. Using one skein of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed.
A few pictures from the weekend. My Nan Noma proving she can still play mini golf.
Amelia and Grace helping out.

Noma's Bag

This is the bag I made for my Nan Noma who is 90 today. You'd never guess it. She lives by herself, drives the car - her mind is as sharp as ever, maybe its getting sharper with age - she doesn't miss a thing.
We had a great day with her yesterday and my parents to celebrate Dad's birthday. The girls were so excited to see her, they were so hyped last night they wouldn't go to bed and they were straight out of bed looking for her.
This bag is very Noma, we seem to come from a blue loving family, we all like and collect blue china and pottery. So we'd better go and get ready as we are all off to a winery for lunch.
I just noticed this on ebay. Pamela Peake's Dragons and Dinosaurs. I have only seen this book once before and I bought that copy. So if you like Pamela Peake have a look.

Knitting, sewing and mail

It was 4 degrees here the other night - and I'm sitting here in the air conditioning now which I think is pretty normal for this time of the year, but I felt the need for fingerless gloves the other morning. So I started on the Fetching gloves from Knitty. I'm using Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed - my favourite combination of wool, silk and cashmere and very warm. So far so good, I think the thumb might be a bit tricky, but I think I can do it.

I have seen some very cute wristlets around lately and thought I'd adapt my bag pattern to make one for myself. I really love this fabric - I'm glad I bought a huge bit of it so I can use it for lots of different things.

This weeks mail has been good! I first read about Fabric Tales from Melly and Rosie and held off as long as I could, but I gave in and I'm so glad I did.

I have definitely saved the best for last. Celine and I organised a magazine swap and this is the amazing parcel I recieved yesterday. I love these little stuffed letters for the girls - such a cute idea. This magazine collections is amazing, what is it about French craft magazines that makes me weak at the knees. Thankyou so much! I think I could burst with inspiration. Check out her Celine's very cute sheep quilt.

More Wombats

I wasn't planning on making wombats this week, but we are off to a first birthday this weekend and all one year olds need a wombat and this Freshcut Fabric keeps screaming wombat to me. So now I need to go and make a bag for my Nan as she is 90 this Sunday and coming down here for the weekend. My Dad's birthday is also this weekend so we are all off for a big Sunday lunch.

I think I'm beginning to have a computer problem and think I'd better take it to be fixed before it becomes really serious. So hopefully it won't be away too long.

Alice Starmore

I can see why this book sells for lots of money on ebay. The instructions and pictures are excellent. No, unfortuanately it is not mine, well it is for the next couple of weeks. I love the library..

Second Hat

I had to finish the second hat as there were arguments over the first one. It was quite tricky as Grace kept trying to put this one on as I knit - a bit dangerous as I was using double pointed needles.

The girls had a great weekend with their grandparents - outside in the garden and down at the park.

Luckily I saw this last night as Etsy went down after and the front page had changed when I woke up. Here is proof my bug was there.

Flowers and New Bags

We have had a busy few days. My sister Jane and my niece have been staying and the girls do not want to sleep if they know they are here - much more fun to try to play with their cousin. Mum has been asking for a photo of all three of them together. They would not stand or sit still to have photos so this is the best we could do today.

I am not really a big fan of Valentine's Day - it is up there with Father's Day and Mother's Day as days which have been destroyed by the commercialisation of them and how they have become all about buy buy buy rather than really showing how much you care, But I love these! Totally unexpected. Thanks Chris. Chris was out umpiring basketball last night so I made him his favourite - homemade pizza, I even made the base for the first time in ages and Jane made one of her fabulous pavlovas.

Some new bags that I have finally finished. I am not sure why these took forever to make. I think the more I try to make things perfect the more things tend to look wonky and the more I have to go back and redo. But they are done and in the shop.

Tuesday

I guess 1.00am is as good as time as any to jump on the bed. I hadn't really thought about it before, but obviously Grace had. Luckily she was tired quite quickly and went back to sleep.
I have been in a bit of a craft frenzy lately as we are having quite a few visitors over the next couple of weeks which means no sewing room and no craft and I'll have to clean up so people can sleep somewhere. So I have been trying to get stuff finished so I can move some of the piles.
I finished a few more bugs and listed them on in my etsy shop as well as some books (the new rule is that the books have to fit into the bookshelf). I thought I'd put them on etsy instead of ebay - them I won't be distracted to look for just one bargain when I know fabric bargains are near impossible on ebay these days.
Is any one having issues with comments after switching to the new blogger. More comments than before are not linking to where they came from. Or more people are becoming mysterious. Mmm. So I'm sorry if I haven't replied to your message, this is probably why.

One Finished Hat

One hat finished. It didn't matter it was quite hot here yesterday. Milly had to wear it. When she was finished she let Grace have a turn.

Itty Bitty Hat

I think I'm in love with the Itty Bitty Hats book. Lucky I have a lot of little bits of Jo Sharp DK left over from this rug I made my sister.I had to immediately cast on a stripey hat even though I couldn't find a circular needle so I'm doing it on dpns. The wool is so soft - I love this stuff and the colours it comes in. It is going to make such a warm little hat.

Tomorrow's Friday!!

Thankyou all for your lovely comments about my animals especially the echidna. I'm feeling a lot better about him now and will try and make another one with a couple of small changes.
Yeh for Fridays!! I can't wait. It has not been the best week around here. Here's the rundown

• The girls have had little colds.
• The odd tooth has popped through.
• Grace would not sleep the other night, except if it was on top of me which meant I didn't sleep.
• They have learnt to climb, Grace fell off the kitchen table yesterday after climbing up there.
• Neither would nap yesterday and they were revolting.
• You can bounce the muffins I made like little balls.
• I have no idea what we are eating tonight.
• The underwires in my favourite bras keep coming out.

But tomorrow is Friday and I'm going to the hairdressers on Saturday so I can sit in peace and skim through crappy magazines. I did manage to finish few things including this wombat last night and a pig which has been half done for a while as I think her eyes make her look a bit surprised and I'm not sure how to fix this for next time.

Some sewing

Today was such a nice day, a complete relief from the heat yesterday. We have had a pretty quiet weekend. I went to a great Cuban theme dinner on Friday which was great fun and and the food was delicious and it bought back great memories of a week Chris and I spent in Havana 3 years ago. Other than that it has just been housework, mowing the lawns, sewing, playing with the girls and some cooking and a bit of reading. I managed to finish The Emperor of Scent. A really interesting look at scent, perfume and the search for how we smell.
A few pictures of things I have finished that will end up in my etsy shop soon.
Margareta the Alien Giraffe.
A new Australian animal - a koala doll.
A wombat.
This is the latest in my echidna prototypes. It looks kind of dolphin/dinosaurish. It looked so good in the picture in my head, it definietly didn't look like this. Back to the drawing board.To finish on something happy. I am not very good at thrifting but I managed to find this great purple sheet at the new vintage shop in town and the pillowcase was a gift from a friend.

The Alien Giraffe Doll

Another Alien/Giraffe/Doll. This one has gone off to Melbourne where it seems he will make some new friends. And you should see more of him later this year.

Finished Jaywalkers!

I have finished them!

Jaywalkers - the larger size

Jigsaw sock yarn

2.25mm needles

My Jaywalkers and my new Docs. What a combination.

It was basically one year ago I made it a goal to learn to knit socks and this is my fourth pair. So maybe it is time for a new goal. I think I want to knit these

Tiit's Socks from Folk Knitting in Estonia. I should probably learn how to do colour work first and continental knitting might make it easier so I think I might need a bit longer than a year. Maybe it should be a two year goal. Maybe I'll get back to you with an end date.

A bug

I really like to read posts about how people's designs evolved. ( Abby does it really well).
So I am going to try to explain where this little bug came from .
As you can see I am not the best at drawing, but I do keep a sketchbook I try to sketch in it and write down ideas so I can remember them later. I first thought about making a bug last year.

It is still floating around the house somewhere in the girls' toys. That was as far as I got and I moved on to other things. Lately I have been trying to make Australian softies and have been really stuck on making an echidna.

It has become a challenge, which I can't let go. The last few weeks I have been trying to make one using a base and two upper pieces - much simpler, it is still not looking like an echidna though, but it did get me thinking about making a jewel beetle.

I bought some lovely natural linene a while ago on special and have been trying to find the right project for it. I didn't want to use it on some of my other toys as it does fray a bit and I am not so confident using it on tight curves, but it is perfect for a bug shape. I thought about designs or embroidery for the back, but I really liked the spots I put on this skirt. I was not keen on sewing 6 very small legs and turning and stuffing them so different legs. The tails I use for my other animals and my giraffe horns become antennae and here you have it - a bug!

I love how designs evolve to form a new animal and I have a plan to modify this pattern to make a mouse and maybe a crocodile.

Hot

It has been so hot here. We have spent most of the days indoors venturing out in the late afternoon so the girls can sit in their paddling pool. We had a thunderstorm last night which I don't think has made the weather any cooler. Funny how half the house can sleep through it - and the dog barking at it - and the rest are wide awake.

The heat hasn't made me stop knitting - have to finish the second Jaywalker - or spinning. Some pics of what I'm doing.

I have a massive pile of toys cut out which I will slowly work through. Here are a couple of giraffes which can be found here soon.

Moo!

Another crazy day - still trying to get used to Chris being back at work and he was away last night too. So we had another treat today - chocolate banana smoothies. So glad the price of bananas has come down. Here is a description of Fairy bread for those that aren't familiar with our treat from yesterday. What do people eat at kids parties if you don't have fairy bread? The girls are having a party just so I can eat it.
I finally had a good nights sleep after a week of stress. The order I did for minifashionista has arrived. The night after I sent it last week I woke up at 2am thinking that I hadn't stapled the parcel shut and I couldn't remember the post office doing it. So for a week I had visions of soft toys lost between here and Adelaide. But all is well and I think they should be open for business soon.
These finally arrived last week. Very cute Moo cards.

A couple of balls of wool I bought on my trip to make some gloves. I'm thinking Fetching from Knitty. And a book bargain from the second hand book shop.

Holidays

The holidays are at an end. Chris has gone back to work. The house is an absolute mess and the girls keep calling for Daddy. So I gave them some fairy bread and put them to bed.
We just had a great few days in Albany and the weather for the first couple of days was wonderful. We went to the beach and the playground and the girls eventually went for a paddle. The only time I took the camera out the weather turned cold and rainy so this photo doesn't really capture the nice time we had at the beach.
I did have a really good find on the way home. We went via Kojonup and The Loony Pin - great yarn and fabric not far from home!

No title today

The girls' hair is growing and I don't think I could ever cut off their curls so I tried to do something with it so it's not always in their eyes. They weren't that impressed with me pulling their hair.

A new platypus. Now for sale in my shop.
Has anyone seen McNaught's comet? It was so impressive the other night. So clear without binoculars. I was much more impressed than when I saw Halley's Comet which was just a speck in the binoculars.