Quick Updates....

Ooh I have been absent quite a bit lately haven't I? Sorry about that. I have been a little busy offline and when Im online I seem to be lost on Ravelry for hours and hours. No lurking by all means, learning my friends, learning. My queue is getting rather long though. hehe!

I have been trying very hard to keep up with the Freeform Crochet project that I am working on. I will show you some more of it when I get more time. One of the tasks last week was to incorporate something Mayan inspired and I went with some surface crochet (another new thing for me, like most of the requirements) and drew my Mayan Daysign. 11 Men (Eagle). 

I have to say that while I am loving learning so many new stitches, I am also finding myself stressing quite a bit at trying to get it all done. My knitting has been sorely neglected too. My bad. Must get that finished also. I have not really had enough time to fit it all in. So am not sure if I will even get it all put together in the time required. 

Now apart from all this Miss Kashi and myself have started our own group on Ravelry called Everything Zen. We are hoping to start some CAL's and some KAL's and well just hang out and chat and encourage each other with our yarny pursuits. We hope that you can come and join in too! (Click here to join) if you have not already. 

Now I must away and try and get a little housework done before attacking that freeform once again. Have a wonderful day and a great weekend all. 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxox

Stash Bag CAL - Ta Dah

And the little fishy swam all over the dam, shicky boom shicky boom shicky boom shicky boom.......... And he swam and he swam as fast as he can (and I am going to stop singing that song now as I just realised just how bad the grammar is) but this little bead really did make me think of that song every time I looked at it. Cute hey? 

Now let's get down to business shall we? How are you all this fine day? I am well......but extremely bored! Why? Because as much as I love to knit and crochet, I am missing my "school" mornings where I got to learn along with my kiddos. Shhhhh don't tell on me! I guess my brain is feeling a bit left out right now and I am coming to the conclusion that I am going to have to take up something outside of the house or take a course or something to keep my brain busy.

Anyway, enough about me. Lets talk about the Stash bag. This week in our Everything CAL group on ravelry, apart from making something mysterious, we are making a bag. I say we are making a bag because we are supposed to be showing the bottom of it on the 25th of March.  So, see, if you want to join in too, you have plenty of time to do so! 

So, do you like my beads? I had them stashed away for years! Knew they would come in handy one day! And they go so sweetly with the Khaki cotton. 

I was all for just making the bottom first, but then Miss Kashi finished her bag very quickly, so I just went ahead and finished mine too.  If we get into trouble I shall hide behind her, yes I shall. 

I used almost 3 full 50g balls of 8ply Panda Cotton Blend. Picked up for the bargain price of just $1 per ball at that 5min spotlight sale I happened upon a few weeks ago. As its usually $5 a ball I was pretty stoked.  I worked on it on and off over about 3 days. It is a really quick and easy project and the pattern is very easy to read.   You can find it here if you want to have a go yourself. 

The bag looked a little small at first but just look how much yarn fits inside....and there is room for more! These are all 50g balls and are standing upright. I could easily squeeze in more and even another row on top! 

It fits in so nicely with my up-cycled sheet stash bags too......

And even better, it is going to make a nice addition for carting around projects, I dare say..... Ooh la la! 

I LOVE LOVE LOVE this stash bag! Yes I do! I think I might have to make some more!  I am so wishing right now that I had bought more of the khaki cotton as I would love a shoulder bag in this colour. Hopefully I will come across another bargain batch soon! 

Have a wonderful day everyone! 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxox

Buzz Buzz

Just a quick whipped up little Ta-dah for you today. Here is the little sweater that I was telling you about the other day. I did not have enough of the one colour but found some lemon to stripe up the bottom section and managed to get it done.  I called it Bumble Bee. 

I used 6mm bamboo needles for the first time. I thought that they were a bit big for my liking but I loved the way the felt to knit with. The wool is Basics pure in 8ply.  ( I would usually go for a 4mm size of needles which to me is much more comfortable).

Although the stitches looked ok in the end I found the joining edges a little loose so not as neat looking as I would prefer. 

The pattern calls for a little tie at the top but I am not sure if I will add this or maybe use a button instead. Still thinking on that one. 

Here is the link the pattern   One Skein Hooded Baby Jacket  (Name aside, I need 3 50g balls for this one). There are also errors in the first section of the pattern.  I would suggest you also check out this ravelry page before attempting the pattern as Jill has rewritten the first part of the pattern so it actually works! I was so grateful to find her re-write after thinking it was I making the mistakes over and over. 

Here is my little friend Natalie modelling for you. The sweater is a bit small for her.......but it gives you a bit of an idea of how it will sit.  Well sort of, the hood is also too short for her as it is a new born size. 

It was a quick and easy knit once you deciphered the errors in the pattern. I changed the bottom to a plain edge as it went better with the stripes. The original pattern had a picot edge. 

I am currently focussing more on crochet than knitting and hopefully will have another ta-dah in a day or so. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxox

Yes and NO.

YES... I am still alive....barely, I managed to tread on a rather long nail like piece of metal this week, 3 1/2 cm of  which went straight through my heal causing a bit of discomfort in the whole foot and leg for a few days. On the bright side I had more time to sit and crochet/knit. :-) 

NO ....... I have not picked up either of my sweater knitting projects ALL week! Shame on me! Well one of them is up to the hard part being the neck, cuffs and bottom which are in a pattern I am finding a little difficult. I will show you later.  Yes, I did try first before throwing it in the corner....

YES..... I did cast on yet another sweater, a baby one which managed to cause just a little fuss when I could not work out what I was doing wrong only to find it was the pattern that was wrong...phew. God Bless Jill whoever you are for re-writing and posting the changes so I did not  have to spend for ever working it out myself. I was just about fed up already I was! 

NO... I don't think I have enough yarn for this little project but I am going to see how it goes and maybe leave off the sleeves. 

YES I have just signed up for another Mystery CAL which I said I would not do again. LOL I could not help myself. 

YES.. I have been crocheting more than anything else this past week because well, I have been lost in something new, being FREEFORM. I have to say it has taken me way out of my comfort zone and beyond.  I have tried so many new stitches, learned to relax, learned to compromise and go with the flow and I am trying ever so hard NOT to unpick things that are out of whack because, well, that is how it is supposed to look.  

Here is a sneak peak at my favourite bit so far....the bit that just happened when I was supposed to be trying the crocodile stitch....... She just happened she did.... and this is what finally made me relax and get on with it. I will show you more later when I have more time. 

If you want to play too, pop on over to Ravelry and sign up. Its loads of fun and everyone is so friendly and helpful. 

I hope everyone is well and happy and enjoying week so far! 

Hugs and Soochies xoxoxoxox

My week......

In between crochet projects last week there was a little bit of knitting and op-shopping and wonderful book deliveries... yes I had a bit of a shopping spree at the the book depository and have added to my collection.......

*100 Flowers to Knit and Crochet (Lesley Stanfield)

*Gifted (Mans Kandis)

*Cute and Easy Baby Gifts (Susie Johns) 

* Sacred Plant Medicine (Stephen Harrod Buhner)

* Plant Spirit Healing (Pam Montgomery) 

I have already knitted a little sweater from the Gifted book as I borrowed it from the library. I want to add some felted details before showing it though.  Meanwhile I have been working on a sweater for myself, small portion of which is in the top picture.

I still need to get to the sewing part of this little project as it is holding up my trip to the post office...norty me! 

I found this half done project when looking for wool the other day. And of course I used a fair bit of the wool in my baby hoody so not sure if I will have enough to finish it. Woops. I will at least try to turn it into a vest or short sleeved cardigan though. 

And I made myself a new headband, excuse the shoddy picture but it as the best I could do pre-coffee this morning. LOL 

What are you working on right now? I am pretty keen to start a couple more baby projects but am really beginning to see that I need to finish all the half made ones first. There are still several more sitting around that I need to get too! Oh dear! 

Have a beautiful week everyone!

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxxo

Meow......

Baby Hoody Blues

In my haste to come up with a few extra baby goodies this week, I thought I would start a baby CAL on our everything CAL group on ravelry. I rushed into choosing a project that I thought would be easy and quick and simple enough for beginners to join in with. 

I have to say that while it was easy and quick, I am really not satisfied with the whole pattern. No offense to who ever wrote it but I have pretty much come to the conclusion with crocheted garments there should be as little joins as possible. 

This hoody was made all in separate pieces and then sewn together. My first attempts at joining in the arms had me just about pulling out my hair as no matter what method you used, it was noticeable. I very nearly gave up but then decided to just do it using whip stitch. 

I had to pretty much force myself to stick to the pattern and remind myself constantly to add a little love into it as I really was not enjoying it at all. 

I used Patons Baby Wool, in 4 ply in both green and blue mixed together to make 8ply. It feels quite thick but is still soft and gives an interesting blend of colour which is probably not quite captured in the pictures. 

In my guiltiness of not feeling my usual love for a baby project, I chose some little love hearts to finish it off. Because despite it not being my favourite thing to work on this week. I am hoping that it will be loved by someone. Gemma thinks its cute. Me?  I keep seeing those joins!!!!! 

The thing I did love about this project, it has inspired me to make more effort to design my own patterns, as well as given me a little insight as to why my previous attempt at crocheting a sleeve in this particular manner was not working with the pattern I used. I will show you that one when I get around to finishing it. 

Overall, my gripes aside, it is rather cute! But I won't be making it again. 

Its pouring down rain here today so I guess I will be starting something new and working on my last pay it forward gift. 

Have a beautiful day everyone. 

Hugs and smoochies xoxoxoxoxoxo