Holiday greetings...

Hello there my friends.

Just popping in for a quick minute to give you a sneaky peak at what I have been working on. First up... Demetra.....

The yarn is called Scandy Ayres and is an Acyrlic/wool/nylon/Mohair blend (Yes I actually bought something with Acrylic in it by choice. Wonders will never cease. To be truthful I did not check the label till I went to use it. LOL I have to say I am loving the flecks of colour and the softness of the finished product. Yes it is very almost finished. I need to sew up the hem and pockets but am waiting till I get home and block it before I take pictures to show you.

Next up, with all the rain and not much to do here in Byron this past week. I had a lot of time for reflection, dreaming and playing with yarn. I came up with about 3 different pattern ideas and this one is going to be a dress with different yoke and body options... here is a peek of the first one. You can't really see the pattern in the skirt properly but thats ok, don't want to give it away too early now do I?

My yarn options etc are limited here so I am using what I have and jotting down my ideas as I go. Lots of drawings but not much physical production with yarn.  The skirt of this variation would be much better in a solid colour as it has a zig zagging pattern in it.

Anyway the sun has actually peeked out from behind all the clouds this morning and I am off to meet a friend for lunch. Take care lovelies. I will probably not post again till after I am home.

Love and light to you and yours. xoxoxoxox

Summer Strawberries.....

Good morning my friends. Its raining again at our holiday destination, has been for most of our time here. Oh well, that has left time for knitting, crocheting and even some blogging time.

I have enjoyed my adventures into sock knitting once more. Only the 2nd pair I have ever knit and of course the first time using a circular needle. I had fun taking pictures along the way too. :-)  There was knitting at the beach on those days where it did not rain....even if it was blustery windy and cold..

This one was taken on my phone.  :-) Not long before the chilly wind whipped up and it was way too cold to stay out there. I had to make a run for the car.

The socks were a pleasant pattern to follow but I think I needed to make them a little shorter in the foot.

The toes are rather square and as the foot was a bit long they did not stretch to give them a toe shape if you know what I mean?

I will either give them to some one with a longer foot or pull them back a pattern repeat once I get home so they fit a bit better. (I like this idea better as I do love these socks).

The heel is quite bunched up too.


All in all, I love the lace pattern and the berry stitches that make up the rest of the sock.

It was hard to take pictures when one was wearing the socks, pictures do not really do the pattern justice.

 The Pattern:  Summer Strawberries by Sezza Knits. 

The Yarn:  Araucania Ranco 933 Pink

Needles: 2.25 and 2.5 mm circulars




Have a beautiful day! Love and hugs xox

That moment....when you run out of yarn.....

This is what happens when you decide to use up your left over yarn and don't swatch or check yardage.  Woopsy!

My fault entirely. I trusted that the pattern said 100g of DK and surely I had a little over 100g left of my BWM Luxury did I not? Well yes I did, in fact I am pretty sure that it should have been more than enough. Perhaps if I had used a smaller set of needles. Considering the pattern states this will fit an 18month to 2 year old. I did notice that it was looking a little big in the top section but my friends, the yarn felt so nice and squishy and I was tired and did not want to work on my fiddlier project of socks, so in my usual fashion I just said meh and kept on knitting.

I figured you see that I also had about 25grams of the white left over and I would use that for the bottom and the sleeve edging. I "thought" it would be enough. LOL I can just hear my hubby saying " Well, you know what thought did, don't you?" I won't tell you the other half of that lovely statement of his, its a bit rude. But anyways, as you can see, I ran out again.

So this little lovely will be waiting till we get home to be finished as I have some more of that white at home.

For now I am looking at this delightful bunch of yarn and wondering what to do with it....

You see in my haste to pack my bags I did not check the ply. It looks like DK but apparently according to rav it is 12 ply. I had hoped to make a larger Gidday and have some contrasting purple to go with it but not sure if it will work being 8ply and 12ply. Would probably not hold its shape at all. I am tempted to give it a go but don't want to waste it. Maybe I should knit a swatch using both colours and see what happens? Hmmmm that might make sense. :-)

Any ideas for something else I can make with this? Interesting that the yardage is the same for a 50g ball as the 8ply.  I have 480metres of this and 400 metres of the purple. So I can either risk it or I can make something different out of each of them. Oh decisions decisions!      


Have a beautiful day my friends. Love and light to you xoxoxox

Introducing the Shoots Beanie....

Designer: Erin Dunstone of Mymymy Knitting. 

Pattern: Shoots Beanie

Yarn: Main Colour - Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury in Leaf , Contrast: Moda Vera Pure Wool in Cream

Needles: 4mm circular

A quick and enjoyable knit with great results. Pattern is well written and easy to follow. As you can see it can also be worn in various ways. A great addition to your beanie/hat family. Enjoy!

Pattern available in a few days on Ravelry (click here to queue).

Drumroll please....I have a FO...

Well half a FO. I guess its not really a FO till it has a partner hey? Don't judge me, I am on holidays. Haha..  Introducing my very first attempt at knitting a sock using circular needles and only my second attempt ever at knitting socks.. My first Summer Strawberry is complete.....

It has been raining a bit here this week so I did have a full afternoon of knitting yesterday. I have also been working on the Shoots Beanie for Mymymy and plan to finish that off today if I can. Here is a sneak peak at how its been going.....

The lace pattern is easy to follow and is looking quite pretty as it knits up. I will share more about it when I am finished. Loving the feel of the Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury yarn too. Its been a while since I used some. Its soft and kind of silky in your hands. :-)

My other WIP right now is a Facebook Page. I finally took the plunge and started one up. Not very exciting so far but I will be posting pictures etc on there as I knit/crochet and hopefully eventually selling some goodies and patterns via the page. All a huge WIP though as I still have a lot of work to do to get it all going. If you would like to follow along  the link is Karisma Knits on facebook.

Now I am off to work on that beanie before the kids all wake up. The sun is shining today so we will more than likely head off to the beach.

Have a beautiful day everyone. Hugs and love. xoxox

WIP Wednesday......Knitting at the beach.....

Yesterday I spent the morning sitting under the trees at The Pass, Byron Bay. I had some lovely coffee and my yarn and camera along . It was so relaxing and despite being a little cool to start off with turned out to be quite a lovely morning.  I made a friend....

who found my knitting very interesting and kept circling me. This is a bush turkey just in case you are not sure. They roam wild in the Australian bush.

The boys were surfing or bodyboarding, one even stayed behind and slept the morning away because he could. :-) I worked on my Summer Strawberries a little and then had a bit of fun taking pictures.

As you can see I was very easily amused. It was a lovely morning and I throughly enjoyed myself. I even had a 2nd cup of coffee and was very excited to check into Ravelry and find out that I had won TWO prizes in different KAL's. One for the Sezza KAL and one from Just Jussi. How exciting! I love taking part in KAL's or CAL's as it encourages you to actually finish what you start and its fun seeing everyone elses progress and FO's as well. I have joined up for another one while I knit these socks. I am sure I will tell you more about them later on and share pictures when I get home.

For now, I am back to my knitting and a cup of herbal tea.

Have a beautiful day all.

Love and hugs xoxoxoxox

Quick Hello

Hi there lovelies,

Just a quick early morning hello from not so sunny Byron Bay this week. We have settled in to our accommodation after a few days of me be a bit of a sook. While our apartment is all very beautiful and fancy it is lacking in practicality and the thought of living for a month without decent cooking options and or a decent laundry had me almost in tears. 3 teenage boys who are constantly eating and making a mess (well two of them anyway) ....argghhhh. Was not feeling much like a holiday at first, thats for sure.

Me being me, I of course talked myself out of this rut and am making do by getting creative with it all and of course training the boogers not to be so messy. The oldest one has been a little quicker to learn than the other two but they are getting there with lots of reminders. Being positive and making the most of everything really does make one go with the flow much easier.  It helps that this is just a short stroll around the corner too...... this is the less busy end of the beach and also the dog walking beach so lots of friendly puppies running around to greet you on your morning walks. :-)

Before the rain started we spent most of our time at the beach. I went shopping one day and bought some books and a pretty dress for $5...bargain. Yesterday we drove up to Queensland and took the kids to Movie World where my boys took great pleasure in introducing their friend D to the rides,  so they are having lots of fun. The younger two have been snorkelling and body boarding every day and are loving the freedom of being able to just walk to the beach or shops when they feel like it. Their obsession over body boards and go pro accessories has me laughing a bit. Although I have a feeling my purse won't be laughing with me very shortly. ;-)

Anyway, this is the craft blog. I shall write more about our adventures on my other blog later. The rain set in a couple of days ago so I took one day out to just sit, relax and of course knit. I cast on Summer Strawberries by Sezza....... I have progressed a bit longer than this and will share when I take more pictures.....

and another test knit for Mymymy Knitting. Here is a sneaky peak...again more is done but I have not taken pics as yet.....

I hope you are all well. I am off to make a cuppa and do a little more of my knitting before the kids wake up. I think the plan is to head to Broken bay today for some bush walking and more surfing/body boarding. Have a beautiful day all.

Hugs and blessings to you xoxox