Saturday crochet, knitting and tea drinking

Currently I am sitting on the couch sipping my Chai latte and I have just put the last stitches onto two finished projects. I know, I know I can’t believe it either. Lately I have been working on 2 big projects. The hexagon paper quilt and a crochet blanket I started using 100% cotton. More of those to come though. Today I thought I would show you a finished project that seriously only took a night to finish and that was with working out the pattern for myself. However you can buy the pattern here. All of her patterns are beautiful and I would like them all!!

It took some coaxing for little princess to actually pop it on her head. Both of the boys had to ‘try’ it first. And of course she is also not a very co-operative model. My eldest son B will gladly pose all day long to have his photo taken and his very photogenic if I do say so myself. However little princess wants to be looking at the back of the camera not having her picture taken. Which normally means I get a picture up close of her nose. I’ve also started knitting this cardigan for little princess too. I’ve already had to frog it once after knitting it on the recommended needle size but not doing gauge swatch. Well after knitting 2/3 a cardigan and it neraly fitting me I have learned my lessong and have a knit a gauge swatch so hopefully in a week I’ll be able to show you a finished cardigan on a not so eager model and more of those blankets too.

Love to all

xx

The new baby Shawl

Wow we are so busy around here at the moment. I have been inundated with crochet orders from a bunch of lovely ladies. So I have been crocheting away like mad making my days very lovely indeed. But not only have I been crocheting like mad, but Mr C and I have decided that we will have an engagement party after all this time. You may remember our wonderful engagement weekend back here.   We have ummed and ahhed over having an engagement party for quiet a while but we figure we wont be getting married any time soon so why not celebrate. So I have been busy planning away and of course it must be budget but brilliant and oh my what a lot of work. I salute those brides who have DIY budget weddings as planning just an engagement party has turned out to be a lot of work, but boy is it fun!!

Before all the busy busy crochet and the planning I made a baby blanket. It’s not my normal style of baby blanket and just beginning was a little daunting. Finding a pattern was a the hardest part. I searched and searched for one. I browsed Ravelry for hours and hours I found this pattern but dismissed it due to the fact it was made with aran weight yarn. But I just could not find anything else I liked. I gave up for a little while and this little blanket almost didn’t get made. But than I started to browse the projects of the pattern and found another crochet lady who had made this blanket with DK yarn and yes it still looked beautiful. The pattern still stood out, I was still in love with the blanket so I made the purchase and the Glory Blanket Pattern became mine.

But wait! Will it end up smaller, no worries I’ll msg the lady who made it in DK and ask how big it was. She very kindly let me know that it was still a good size for a baby blanket and I was ready to go.

One thing I love about crafty ladies is our willingness to share our ideas and projects without a moments hesitation. I know I constantly find myself in spotlight helping someone who is starting out and is standing staring at the huge array of wool. Us seasoned knitters and crocheters can always spot them. I remember being one and reading yarn labels going I have no idea what the hell ply is. Especially when so many patterns ask for weight. So there you stand as a newbie staring at wool labels thinking I can’t find the weight oh god oh god I don’t want to look like an idiot but there is always some lovely lady willing to share her years of knowledge and I love it.

I think I may have helped one such lady while shopping for wool for this baby blanket. It was requested in green, not a colour I use hugely. Not only was a I making a blanket not in my style but also not in my colour even as a seasoned crocheter I felt out of my depth. But I knew I could do it, hey I picked up a hook all those years ago and manged to make a chain so I could do this. And with that I finally began after months of stalling. The blanket worked up in no time at all and the pattern was super easy. But after about round 5 there was some serious rippling going on and I was extreme worried as I was making this with acrylic for all the baby vomit that it will receive it must be machine washable and as we know acrylic does not block. I kept checking the pattern yep she made hers with acrylic. WHY IS MINE NOT WORKING!! I frogged and began again but still it was rippling. Slightly less but it was there and so I found myseld laying it flat and manipulating it in to a flat circle after each round, And what do you know at the end it ended up flat no rippling. The pattern was stunning and the size was perfect as a baby shawl.

I can’t say I’ll make another one anytime soon unless of course the Mum-to-be requests one (I’m a sucker) but I did enjoy giving it to her. And thats the best part about making presents isn’t it the giving. And this one was received with pure joy. The Mum-to-be knew it was coming but had no idea what it would look like and she was so overjoyed to have it in her little hands with 5 weeks to her due date. And I’m glad to be finally sharing it with you.

Love to all

xx

A Beautiful Winter

It is a miserable day here, dark and gloomy but I am feeling far from gloomy. Normally I am a summer person all the way I love the sun and look forward to it all year but this year I have wholeheartedly embraced the winter spirit, I’m loving that the days are getting shorter the sun is setting sooner and the cuddling on the couch can commence early. Even Mr C has been amazed at my winter mood which is normally quiet blue but seems to have retained much of the summer warmth about it.

I’m just finding so many wonderful thing about winter (yes I know we are not quiet in winter yet) this year new gumboots with little hearts on them made my heart almost leap out of my chest when spotted in the shop.

and of course they just had to come home with me.

I also have so many wip on the go right now, I’m never bored and I’m loving everyone though of course the hexipuffs do seem to get more neglected then all the rest

but this April I declared puff month and went on a mammoth puff and got quiet a lot done

and of course the crochet that is bringing me so much joy in winter is a little project I’m working on in colours I don’t normally go for but are making me excited every moment I hook a new square and make a new colour combination

And of course like most of my projects these little squares started off as something little and then I realised how small that blanket would be so has gone from ‘I’ll need 10 of each colour to I’ll need 25 of each colour’ but I’m loving it and they are so simple to work up I get 10 a day done no worries.

And lastly the sunshine in my little world at the moment is a little blanket I have been requested to make after a kind lady saw the last blanket I made

it’s another rainbow ripple baby blanket this one will be the miracle rainbow ripple as it is for a little miracle baby.

Hope you’re all loving winter as much as me

xx

Bliss

A beautiful end to a lovely public holiday. I hope u all have a wonderful Easter. I have been busy Easter crafting today. My mind has been so busy with so many crafty ideas I don’t know where to begin. I think a trip to the craft store and paint shop are on the agenda tomorrow. I only hope my mind stops running wild with ideas so I can get some sleep tonight.

Secrets . . . .

Not a lot of blogging is getting done, but my needles and hooks are working on overdrive as I hook up some presents. I love making things for other people it gives me a warm fuzzy feeling to make something, that someone else will love. Well I hope they love.

But there is a problem with making presents and blogging . . .  they don’t go together. I can’t show you what I’m making, I can’t show you my work’s in progress (of which there seems to be a growing list), and I can’t even tell you what they are because spoiling the surprise would be spoiling the whole process.

I mean I love making things to give, I derive so much enjoyment from it, I love that moment where you finally find what you have been looking for and you just know that’s what the person would love. I enjoy picking the colours and watching it all come together, but most of all I love the surprise. The surprise the recipient gets when they receive a beautifully wrapped pressie and under those layers is something I hope they will just love and cherish. So of course I can’t show you anything big at the moment, but I can tell you I have finished one of my pressies on the list and I am giddy with excitement. I almost can’t part with it. It’s just so beautiful I want it all to myself. And I’m dying to share it with all of you, but the sun does not want to shine here at the moment so no photos have been taken . . . yet, but fingers crossed for tomorrow and then it’s off in the post all ready for the surprise.

I shudder to mention them

Yes those hexipuffs, it is Tuesday after all but I’m sad to report nothing yep a big fat nada. I have not made any, I think I’m having a break. I will finish those little buggers but I’m taking a holiday and instead I have been making a little Nana Squares

and this is where I have been today trying to keep warm as our heater broke at some stage in the night and after spending sometime this morning trying to fix it, I have given in and called the plumber, hopefully it will be fixed soon. But for now I have my toasty warm socks a cuppa tea and some brightly coloured nana squares to keep me warm.

It’s a weird old funny day

This beautiful scene is what we woke up to this morning, and I just couldn’t resist grabbing the camera and running outside to take a quick snap before starting the morning school rush. The whole backyard was covered in the most beautiful dewy pink glow. It made you all warm and calm inside. But the weather man was reporting 21 and showers but they didn’t seem anywhere in sight. Fast forward a couple of hours and it turns out the weather man was spot on our beautiful pink sky is no longer and has become a dreary grey mass.

It is so dark and gloomy now I have had to turn the light on inside so I can knit. I should be knitting hexipuffs as you probably gathered from the lack of one a day post, I haven’t really been into it this week. I might have knitted one but really that’s being pretty optimistic with myself. Instead I have started one knitting project 3 times. 1st I cast on the wrong number of stitches and didn’t pick it up till I had knitted 1 round, secondly I stuffed up the ribbing somewhere and finally after getting to the required length realized I was using the wrong size needles. So I went rip rip rip and have finally got it on the right needles with 1 round of ribbing done right and the right amount of stitches hopefully by tonight I’ll be back up to where I was before I ripped.  I have however finished a few little crochet projects but I can’t show any yet as they need to be wrapped and posted off to a little one who will soon join us. But I will give you a teeny tiny sneak peek.

Hehe no colour for you yet. Can you guess?? I can’t wait to show you I’m so excited by these little pressies they have really been an absolute joy to make. I also stuck some art up on the wall and it has been met with mixed response’s. I’m quiet liking the splash of colour to our beige lounge room and this is the beginning of a our new gallery wall. I can’t wait to hang some more little family objects up.

xx

oops

I seem to have gone missing. I haven’t gone into hiding, no witness protection programs, I just seem to be finding it hard to find time to blog. No I’m not particularly busy doing anything but I am working on a fair few projects at the moment and they all seem to be taking up a lot of my time.

You know the kinda projects you are working against the clock on. The kind with a deadline, whether that be a filming schedule or a babies due date. And the thing about schedules and deadlines is as soon as I have them I tend to procrastinate. I know I should get hooking and knitting away as soon as I find out about these deadlines but I always seem to leave it to the last-minute and spend several days/weeks hooking and knitting away like mad. And so this is where I am at right now.

I am in the clutches of  rippling away. I am nearly halfway and the colours I’m using are making me really enjoy this project. But the bouquet of hooky flowers on my to do list is nowhere near half way and I’ve got one more week to have it ready to mail, so tomorrow I must I repeat to the procrastinator in me I MUST hook up a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

And don’t even get me started on my one a day. You may have noticed a drastic absence of One a day posts, this is largely due to the fact I’m not puffing away. I need to pick up those needles, I even have one half way done on the needles but I’m just so busy with all the other knitty hooky business going on in my house. But I will be puffing away again I promise to deliver another episode of the puff family next week.

Oh god did I just add something else to my to do list. Better go start now or I’ll never get anything finished.

Love to all

xx

One a day – Episode 19

Oops a daisy last week I was positive I had been making a hexipuff a day but it turns out I may have lied a little because after the count this week I was very sorry to discover that I had only added 3.5 puffs to my total. Thats 3.5 puffs in 2 weeks not 1. Oh dear that is very terrible I really must get back to making these little puffs of joy. I may have made a dismal amount of puffs for the last 2 weeks but excitement did set in as I was counting and I started to head up in the 90′s and I discovered that I have finally cracked that magic number

..

..

I’ve made 101 Hexipuffs

this number makes me so happy

it makes me want to start knitting right now and crack the half way mark

I’m promising myself to knit at least one a day this week

But now for the scary bit am I still on schedule or -as I suspect – have fallen behind . . . far behind

So I still need

209 Hexipuffs

which need to be made in

254 days

I can’t believe I’m on track, I suspect somewhere a long the way I have miscalculated.

With only 3 puffs made this week I have been busy doing  a little crochet for this wonderful blanket. The idea is that we all send our squares to Stocki and she puts the blanket together and then one of the lovely contributors wins the blanket to have in their very own home. 1 square = 1 entry so the more you make the more chances you have of winning and getting a beautiful blanket handcrafted by some amazingly talented ladies from around the world. Now I signed up to join in but I was under no delusions that this blanket would ever make it’s way to my house. I have actually never won anything in my life, it’s not that I think I am unlucky but I definitely don’t have the lucky lottery winners gene. I do however love the idea of a blanket from all over the world in an array of colours going to someones loving crafty home and with this I set about making my squares

I used 4 different patterns and I absolutely loved making these squares. It was a great chance to try out those patterns I had seen around but was not commited to making a whole lot to form anything. Though those Hawiian flowers (bottom left) are so much fun to make I might need to make something with those. I do hope Stocki can join them in as a square. I did however realise that, that one middle far left is going to be pretty hard for her to join oops . . sorry Stocki. The square with the flower is from Rose Hip though I worked a few more rounds of granny around the flower they are super cute and were exactly what I was after. The one far right bottom I had found a long time ago on a blog called Millie makes and the pattern is called ‘something pretty’ doesn’t that just sound devine. It was my first pattern with popcorns and I found it quiet confusing to follow but after a quick you tube video on popcorns I was off and running.

Well I must go make hexipuffs now, want to get to that magic half way mark now, who knows I might just have a blanket pretty soon.

Don’t forget to check out all the other talented one a dayers I’m off to take a look now

 

xx

 

A little forgotten hat.

I finished my Yarn bombing piece last night and proceeded to block my 4 squares for Stocki’s Beautiful Blogger Blanket and than I found myself in the very odd place of not having and immediate projects, but a big desire to start a blanket of my very own. But what to make and where to even begin with so many lovely blankets in blog land I just don’t know where to start. Though this morning I spent sometime browsing through blog land and came across Cherry Hearts Yearly round up and 1 photo caught my eye and popped right off the screen at me, can you tell which one it was. That’s right scroll down to march, any ideas yet? That’s it just down the bottom center those adorable flowers, I just must know where they are from, so after a little browsing in Cherry Heart land, I found Sandra had made them from this lovely book which just screams with so many make me now projects, so without a second thought I headed over to my fav online book shop and purchased said book with out a moments hesitation and now I start the wait for it to arrive on my little doorstep and the fun to begin. Yippee!!

But while browsing photos last night I realised I had forgotten to share a little hat I made at the start of December for a very special friend from the days of High School (and doesn’t high school feel like a faint memory) who is having her very 1st bubba. Lovely high school friend will be such a fun mummy I decided a little fun hat was in need but without knowing the sex (we do now) I wanted something gender neutral but not yellow. And than while browsing in my fave Debbie Bliss books (yes her again) I found it.

The Wee Willie Winkie Hat can’t you just picture a newborn sound asleep in this cute little hat. Well unfortunately I don’t have a cute little sleeping newborn on hand I do however have a little snowy bear

who was more than happy to pose for a few quick shots. I had so much fun making this little sleeping hat. It was my first time actually using all 4 Dpn’s and after a little confusion (more of my just see how it goes attitude) I was off and circling in no time.

This little hat was also a very quick knit worked up in about 2 days. That’s 2 days of normal knitting, you know the kind where children want things and partners need love and house needs attention: normal days.

I did however change one little thing and finished the hat off with 2 i cords tied in knot instead of the pom pom, I know know I just can’t seem to leave a pattern alone.

The little wee Willie winkie hat completed my little care hamper for the lovely high school friends baby shower.

After having 2 babies of my own and not being the most comfortable pregnant lady I decided that babies are far to spoilt at baby showers and the mums to be need much more attention. After all they’re the ones doing the hard work so we can all have new born cuddles. So from my own experience I put together a few little things to hopefully help ease the burden load of pregnancy

I do so hope she enjoys it all and I can’t wait for the little one to be born only. 4 more months to wait.

xx

One a Day – Episode 17

My brain is racing and I can’t decided what to tell you first. I feel like I have not checked in here in so long, it’s only been 5 days but it feels like so much longer as so much has been going on in my little part of the world and I’m not even sure where to start.

Maybe with a little confession. . .

Since I started the one a day project my exercise routine has decreased steadily to be at the rate of zero now. Now I’m not blaming my one a day but I seem to have replaced my exercise time with knitting time which for the brain is great but for the waistline is not so crash hot. And with the holiday seasons just behind us I find myself needing to get back into the exercise routine. And so this morning I hopped on our treadmill, yes we own a treadmill and still I don’t find the time for a quick 30 minute brisk walk. But I’m sure you’ll agree the call of the crochet hook or knitting needles is strong and sometimes can not be resisted. Well today I did it and I not only did 40mins but I knitted a hexipuff while I did this.

This sudden realisation of needing to get back into the exercise has not as many of you might be thinking been brought about by a new years resolution, but by the fact we just booked a holiday for our family to the sunny state and so in 4 weeks I will require to be swim wear ready so I need to start whipping my but now. I can’t wait to be in the lovely sunny state soaking up the surf and sand and as such this has become my inspiration. Wish me luck.

Have you all been busy one a daying. I haven’t made one a day we have just been having such a lovely time with Mr C holidays with us we  have just been enjoying our days with at home and I have also been working on my piece for the yarn bomb event being held in Melbourne on the 22nd of January. I have been granny stripping away using all my lovely new yarn I got.

I’m zipping up the stripes with utter enjoyment and I’m bouncing out of my seat to choose the next colour, I’m so enjoying granny stripping again It truly is so much fun all those little treble clusters in a row. But along with this I have managed to increase my number of hexipuffs; so here we go

So on December 13th 2011 I had

87.5 hexipuffs

Today I have

97.5

I still need

209 hexipuffs

To be made in

I’m almost scared to work this number out

…

…

293 days

Phew I’m still in my goal I have no idea how though. I feel like I should be so much further behind.

But by looks of things I will have myself one of these by the 27th of September 2012

If you haven’t already, knick over to Carole’s and check out all the other one a days

and I will back when I have a little more time with more of those lovely bunts I received in the mail. For now though I am going to go and give a little princess who is giggling behind me lots of cuddles

xx