Happy Holidays....

May your lives be filled with LOVE, PEACE and JOY this holiday season.  

Merry Christmas everybody. 

About 20 shots later.......1..2...3... Smile....

Getting a decent picture of my lot is quite the challenge. 

Dad are you behaving yourself down there? 

Hmmmm.....

With Love 

In a Spin update

I have not had a lot of yarn time around here in the past week or so but I did manage to keep up with my squares for the In a Spin throw.  I have to admit to being a little confused about how its all going to fit together with the introduction of yet another sized square. Week 4 called for two squares sized 20cm, previously we had either 15cm and 30cm. So going to be interesting to see how it works. 

Sticking to my plan of using mostly scrap yarns is not really working either as I seem to be reaching for the new yarns more and more. 

Anyway here is week 4.......

And week 5........

For more information and/or pattern links please visit (In a Spin) for more details. 

I also made a hat which I forgot to photograph so will show you that later. It turned out a bit odd. LOL Cross stitching was my choice of fun yesterday. I was having a bit of an off day and plonked myself on the couch with needle and thread for hours on end. I felt only slightly guilty. ;-) 

Have a wonderful week. 

Love and Light to all xoxox

Serenade......

Good morning my lovely friends. Its 6.30am and finally I have a quiet moment to pop in and say hello.

Its been a busy week down here. We have been celebrating Xmas a little early. My daughter has been for a visit from Melbourne and you may remember that I was owing her a little present which has been on the hook since June.

Those of you who have been here for a while will know that I had dramas with this one. Dramas that have taught me to trust in myself and to have a little faith and all that jazz. :-)  Why? The rest of you may be asking? Well, to cut a long story short (because it panned out to be a really long story),

• Daughter wants a long coat to keep her warm on cold winter Melbourne days.
• Mum picks out several for daughter to choose from.
• Daughter picks one from Melody Griffiths designs.
• The pattern calls for Noro silk garden and will cost way too much
• We improvise with Bendigo Woollen Mills Serenade.
• For the first time in ever, mum does a test swatch as she does not have a big enough hook. It measures up beautifully so we go ahead. 
• Mum begins to panic when the amount of rows called for look way to short. Pops online to order more yarn, which has of course now gone up. $104 later we are back in business but need to completely change the pattern to get this to work. 
• Many more rows are need and of course the jacket is not as wide as it should be. 
• The sleeves needed to be changed all together as we need several increases along the way.
• Next was the addition of a border all the way around. Which could have been wider but as daughter is on a weight loss mission at the moment, we did not want it to end up too big. 
• We did not make it as long as the one in the pattern because the gorgeous yarn is way too heavy. 
• In the end we did not really need to buy all the extra yarn anyway. Woops. We did use extra purple though. And on the bright side. Mum now has a marvellous addition to the stash pile. (Insert evil chuckle). 

Now I know my rambling must be driving the scrollers among you nuts so without further ado, here it is, finally as finished as its going to get..........

Drum roll please.........presenting the long awaited Stripy Serenade........... 

Ta-Dah .....

There was no time for blocking or being fussy as my girl is off home today and wanted to take it with her.  She is very happy with the results. I am very happy that it is finally finished. It is so warm and snuggly. 

I think we can say we have one happy customer, don't you? 

And now I must away. My time is up. The girls are awake and I must wake up the boys. Another busy day is in store for us here. Lessons for one, School for the other, Gymnastics, Long car trips, airport drop offs.....the usual mama shuffle of getting everything done and everywhere they need to be. :-) 

Have a beautiful day everyone. 

Love and hugs 

xoxoxoxoxox

Xmas Fun

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas already isn't it? Our house is no exception to the rule. This weekend I handed my girls one of those little Xmas Felt kits which required a bit of sewing, some gluing and a whole lot of patience.  As they sat down with much excitement to get all crafty together, I was instantly reminded of them as little children. My three creative little bunnies, all so very different in temperament.  

My oldest girl had this very contented look on her face (she was the perfectionist when she little) she loves getting creative, the middle one looked quite serious (she was all for getting the job done in a speedy and efficient manner, she was the more contented little soul as a child) and the youngest, who made me laugh as she had the grumpiest look on her face and when she noticed me giggling she said "Mum, can't we do some easier craft?" (She would be the impatient one, who surprisingly enough grew up to take her time with her creative processes, this one being no exception, grumpy beginnings aside).

So a little into the crafting joy, they all started to grumble. The glue that came with the kit was not sticking the felt down. Hmmm. They raided my craft cupboard and tried several different glues. A little while later, they all gave up declaring this a bit of an arghhhh project. 

The youngest however set hers aside and let it dry. The next day she did a little more. Last night she presented me with her finished work which took a few days to complete because "Mum, clearly craft glue needs to dry, its not superglue after all. " Yes clearly! :-) 

I eagerly await the presentation of the other projects. I have full faith they will work it out. :-) 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Creative Mess......

They say its a sign of creativity when one is in a mess. That said, I think I am way overdue for a cleanup of my creative space....... where everything is piled up.....

And squished together.........

And in a post rummaging tangle.....

And where what isn't crammed on the shelves....

Has fallen to the floor.... woops.....

Even the new sewing space is piled with half done jobs......

And we won't list all those half finished yarn projects will we? Lest we get a fright? Oh how about just one? A little Xmas house awaiting a wreath, (I don't have any dark green yarn)... sitting upon some newly washed fabric.......

I should probably be in there cleaning it up right now instead of blogging about it, but in my own defence I am currently supervising a math lesson.  And soon I am off to the airport to pick up my daughter who is coming to stay for 2 weeks! Yay! 

Here is my almost finished effort for In-a-spin week 2. I am still waiting for the border colour to arrive to finish the next round. 

Hope you are having a wonderfully creative week in a much tidier fashion than I. 

Hugs and smoochies lovely people. xoxoxox

Eucalyptus Dreams - Take 2

Does anybody remember this one? It's looking a bit worse for wear there isn't it? And please excuse the  icky mark on the sleeve (no idea what that is as its been packed but hoping it comes off when washed)  and the pile of junk on the floor waiting to be ejected out the front door. ;-) 

Re-discovered while sorting out my many unfinished projects the other day. This is the cardigan I took on holidays last year. It saw a bit of flying off the needles in the car, a bit of getting caught on things as it was moved from pillar to post. And big boys sitting on it on occasion. And then the poor thing was all forgotten and lay forlorn in its bag for a long long time. Of course Sibel has also now tried to help and given it a couple of pulls...arghhhh.....

I figured I should do something about getting it finished and it now only has the buttonhole side edging, the sewing and the neck to be finished. Not sure how one would block this as it is knitted together but the yarn does say it can be ironed so I might try that after its washed.  Hoping to get some time for this in the next few days. 

Wish me luck lovelies. 

Hugs xoxoxox

Week One

Deb posted a link to this CAL, In a Spin Sampler Throw (Ravelry Group)  over at ........... Spinatomy  (blog) and I could not help but sign up. 

There will be a different pattern posted each week for a granny square.  Which will eventually be made into a blanket. 

I have been planning to make a blanket out of my odd balls and left over yarn bits for ages so it did not take much encouragement for me to join in.  And now in my usual fashion I find myself wanting to order more yarn. Why? 

Well I am just loving these colours (this is mostly just one variegated ball with the Autumn glow in the bigger square) and as I have similar yarns in pastel blues and pastel green blends,  I thought I might buy some solid greens, some more Autumn Glow, some Mink, Some Yellow,  and some Denim blue as my borders. 

I know, its kind of cheating on the random yarn thing but after all, it will still have all the random yarn, just a few colours to bring it all together. ;-) These squares are waiting for one more row of SC, to finish them off. I wanted to do that in the Denim, but am having trouble getting my order through with Bendigo Woollen Mills. Seems to be a problem with their server. 

The one more row will bring my squares up to their right measurements. One at 30cm square...

And the other at 15cm square.....

I am planning on using mainly 8 ply yarn, however, this yarn is more like a 10ply, thick and squiggly. Not quite sure what it was but feels a lot like Alpaca. The Autumn glow is left over from my shawl and is 10ply. I will re-order in 8 ply. 

For now, its all tucked into its basket while we wait for next weeks instructions. I must find the lid as it turns out we have a thief in the  house. Ahem.........Sibel!!!!!

Nothing is safe around here anymore my friends, nothing! In fact my little square up there went missing this morning. Despite the fact that it was put away in a bag last night. I found it after much searching attached to my sons bodyboard stuck in the velcro leg rope. Nicely tucked away where it could not be seen.   Hmmmmm. 

Click on either of the links up the top if you would like to join in too. 

Hugs, Have a wonderful week. 

xoxoxox

Pretty things...

While I was on a course a couple of weeks ago, I met a most lovely lady who when I admired her necklace, let me take a closer look.  While she told me a little bit about it, I got to play with it and admire it and tried to take a decent picture with my phone which of course just does not do it justice. 

The necklace was purchased for this lady by a friend from a market stall in Turkey. It was crocheted from very fine cotton with small crystal chips threaded throughout. Needless to say, I NEED one of these. I do! 

Oh how I wish I had taken my camera with me that day. I am however, most grateful that she allowed me take photos at all.  And I have added this project to my never ending list of "things to do".  May this lady be eternally blessed for her kindness. It is the little things in life like the kindness of a stranger that make my heart sing. 

Namaste 

xoxoxoxoxox 

Catch UP

The last few days I have been "catching up" with quite a few things. Learning to fit my own creative urges around those of my youngest sons learning has had me feeling just a little bit frazzled at times. (I had gotten quite used to those six hours a day to myself). While we are getting back into the homeschooling swing of things I am finding the lack of personal time a little bit challenging. 

However, I know this is the right choice for him and I want to support that choice so I am once again learning to fit things in where ever I can.  So after a rather slow going morning of him getting a bit frustrated over his math work and me tapping my foot and watching the clock lest he NEVER finish. 

We pulled out the artwork, (he is working an Ecology  photography piece right now), and his big sister had him running around the house trying to find some different surface textures to add to his background......

giving me some precious moments to sew some motives onto fabric (those on the Everything Zen group may recognise these, which were supposed to be for my Japanese flower scarf that I never ended up finishing).  And sew it up into this....

A holder for all those plastic bags that we are not supposed to have in the house because we use canvas shopping bags. Ahem. I will teach them one day, I will! For now we will recycle those we have. I still need to make a handle but at least its a start. 

In between all this I also managed to start another small crochet project for xmas and I re-discovered my Eucalyptus Dreams Cardigan which had become buried in the depths of the craft room and started knitting away again. I will share pics of that later. 

What exactly is that? 

Amongst all this fun, Miss Sibel was enjoying meeting Charlotte. And after Charlotte harassing her to play constantly for the first day, she decided who was boss in a rather forceful manner. 

Ummm, Sibel, thats my foot! Sibel!!!!

What? 

Learning to share was another cause for concern......

Don't touch my toys....

Get off my cushion....

But I thought this was my cushion? 

Poor Charlotte was scratched and bitten into place, making room for her majesty to snuggle down in HER cushion.....

And eventually we came to a compromise and shared for an afternoon nap......Nawwww, how sweet.....

Charlotte however, is not so sure about this new addition to the family now..... and later she manages to secure the cushion once more, all to herself. 

"Oh Nana! I'm not sure about this, I'm not sure at all!"

Poor Charlotte. 

Have a wonderful weekend all.

Hugs xoxox