the weekend

A wonderful weekend with good friends, good food (great cheese) and good fun! 
Here are a few other highlights...


Found 2 interesting recycled pieces of fabric at a garage sale on saturday for my stash

A local craft store had a 30% off sale on all things knitting and crochet on Saturday, so I bought a few more hooks, wool and little bits and pieces

I started and finished a little elf beanie for a special little mister back in Katoomba (off to the post office tomorrow for me)

Decided to make a blanket with some of the wool from the Saturday shop. At first I thought I would do a granny square blanket. My Gran made me one and I have always wanted to make one for myself but after knitting one square, I thought it may not be a very warm blanket. For this project, I am hoping for a warm blanket so I have decided to make the blanket a bit more snuggly and have started a different style. It has 150 stitches across and will be green, blue and white stripes (unless I buy more colours) I will keep going till I am happy with the length. I think I have bitten off quite a bit with this one and it may be a long term - behind the scenes - project when I sit down after dinner and relax and have no deadlines to meet.

the granny square

  

the striped (long term) blanket project

I also started to post my knitting and crochet projects on Ravelry. My friend Kel is there. She was the one that got me started on Ravelry. You can find me at redlizzi. Come by and say hello, share your projects and any pointers you have about starting out and getting to know your way around the site. I have only scratched the surface of the wonders that are hidden there! It does have some great people and great projects you can check out. I have also found a pattern there and am about to embark on an epic project for me. 
But more on that later...

My Creative Space...

I'm still hooking along and loving it. 
Check out my new crocheted beanie in my Etsy store. (Thank you to Ms S for modelling). 
It is an all year round beanie. Just right to wear in any weather. A perfect neutral colour that will go with anything!

What colour wool to use next? I could have a rainbow of beanies...
A different one for each day?


For more creative spaces, pop into Kirtsy's place.

sewday sunday

I finally started sewing again and have finished the first skirt in the new series for girls. There will be sizes 2T - 6T (AU) available very soon.

No chickens were harmed in the making of these skirts.

I saw this chicken fabric a couple of days ago and just fell in love with it! I couldn't leave it on the shelf and ended up buying the rest of the bolt! I couldn't resist but to make little girl's skirts with it.
Maybe I was reminiscing about having chooks in the backyard as kids...
Maybe it's that I am driving past farms and farm animals everyday?

My Creative Space...

This week I am tidying up loose ends - literally.
Mr Owl is getting stuffed and all sewn up.
The beanies are getting their final touches so they are wearable - one has already found a new home!
And I am sneaking in a bit of hooking practice here and there - check out my latest little feature...

Check out more creative spaces or share your own over at Kirsty's place!

I'm hooked...

I have been trying to finish off a knitted animal for a special little person. (Yes, it is meant to look like an owl of sorts) But I have been having trouble with the eyes as they require reading a crochet pattern. Not happy with compromising with some form of knitting, I needed to learn how to read a crochet pattern, and soon. 
This is the point I realised  how much you depend on your circle of craft friends to help you at times like these. 
So as I haven't met any crafters over here yet, it was off to the local fabric / craft store. I knew they had a sewing group that meets there once a month on a saturday so I headed down  and found a couple of lovely ladies who showed me how it was done as well as a little more about other crochet stitches. After some very bog thank yousI set off home to finish those eyes! And here is the (nearly) finished product (he just needs stitching up!)

I went to bed that night quite contented with the knowledge I had gained and the endless possibilities...

Then on Sunday I knew I had a problem. 

While the boys (we have a few friends staying with us from NSW) were out fishing I dragged out my favourite 20 ply wool from here and managed to hook a beanie, then another, and another and another as well as a few flowers! I love the purple flowers with the orange beanie! These and others will be in my store soon!

 

I had to go and make dinner so I would stop hooking. Unfortunately the boys didn't hook any fish for dinner.

My Creative Space...

I have this fabulous green wool from here and have been trying to find the perfect thing to make with it - it's the last ball left!
So with a new niece arriving the other day, I was determined to find a little knitted animal I could make. Most of the animal patterns I find are crocheted and look a little fiddly and the fact I cannot understand a crochet pattern also doesn't help. I can crochet but it's more like freestyle crochet, hook it here and there. 
After much searching I found a knitted animal that looked possible. The only catch was that it required 4 knitting needles! Not having ventured past 2 needles as yet, I pulled out Mum's old stash of needles and found four matching ones and set to work. After a few false starts I finally got the hang of it. 

hoo am i?


For more creative spaces check out this place

are you one?

Collector
Saver
Accumulator
Squirrel
Stasher
Call it what you will, I am one (ssshh I am a hoarder!). Well maybe that is a bit harsh (maybe not) but I do become attached to certain things that I struggle to part with and they are accumulating as the years tick over. 

I thought I would share with you a few of those things that the dust has been swept away from as I unpack the boxes from the recent move...

Lollipop - my first and only doll growing up - I was a bit of a tomboy and loved playing with dump trucks and lego! My sister had all the barbie dolls - I just never went there. Even though Lollipop would have had a hard life being dragged around on family holidays and sleepovers (and maybe a ride or two in the washing machine) she has hung in there! I remember mum making all her outfits, PJ's, skirts, dresses, and even an evening dress! Ooh and I can't forget that hat - that is her hair under there!

My favourite plaster and stone decorated jar made by 3 year old Me with a little help from Mrs Duschane and Mrs Kerr at Preschool - the plaster is chipping away and stones are falling off every time i pick the jar up but it can still hold stuff and looks very cool - It has lived on my desk since forever!

My (old) collection of knitting and crocheting patterns - from way back when - this stash doesn't include the ones that were published since I was born!

A few highlights from the stack

I just love the cover of this book

and this - fabulous purple outfit but would you swim in it at the beach?

Fragrant crochet bag - it's been living in my undies drawer for at least 20 years. I had forgot about it until I started packing up the house in the Blue Mountains! It no longer has a lovely fragrance and the colours have faded slightly but I made it! It even has a chain stitch string to hang it up with! 

I have only scratched the surface - Is it just me or do other people hold onto the little things from their past ...

cold as ice...

Winter is really settling in now. Mornings are reaching zero and ice is formed think on the car windows each morning! 

So Mr, being the industrious soul, thought we should get the fire in the house going to save on those rising electricity bills. Just one thing, we have no fire wood. Great news Mr says one day after work, 'I've found some FREE firewood' 

Free?

But surely there was a catch? 

Of course there was!

I was to be dragged out of bed one Saturday morning with chainsaws blaring and sawdust flying everywhere, so we could get this wonderful FREE firewood! Fantastic, the wood has been chopped in rounds, on the trailer, and eventually in our backyard. Then the hard work begins! To chop up the wood and stack it! (What a gentleman - I only had to stack the wood) After this lovely day out, we gather some kindling to get ready for a toasty night in front of the fire. Too easy right? 

WRONG!

I leave Mr to light the fire only to find there is smoke oozing from the door of the fire, the fire alarms letting out their ear peircing shrieks, and eventually there is a thick layer of smoke forming from the ceiling nearly to the tops of our heads! After several persistent attempts to keep the fire going and finally a further inspection, Mr announces that the flue is blocked! 

So, while we wait for the real estate agent to get things sorted (oh the joys of renting!) and try to rid the house of the smokey aroma we are curled up on the lounge wrapped in good old blankets and doonas!

I also couldn't resist in dragging out the trusty "purple people heater"!

Made me thankful we don't have to go to this much trouble anymore!