Ahhh-choo!

It's a bit dusty around here...!

Life has been pretty hectic over the last few months. Among other things, I've gone back to work two mornings a week, which is long enough to feel like I'm staying in touch with the job I've been trained for, but short enough that I don't feel like I'm missing too much of the girls growing up.

And they are definitely growing up. The smallest turned one a couple of weeks ago! Time really does fly past without being noticed, especially when kids are small and each day can seem like an eternity. There is good sense in taking a moment to STOP, and mark these milestones properly.

Liquorice Allsorts and Raspberry Bullets are rather useful cake decorating luxuries!

And even though I haven't been particularly successful in recording it, I've been making stuff fairly enthusiastically. Recently I've been working on...

...A stripey beanie for a friend's six month old...

...The beginnings of my first knitted lace shawl...

Hopefully I will be back before long with further evidence of my productivity!

Zucchini and a rainbow

What happens when you plant zucchinis in your vege patch and then go away for a few days?

This:

They're just slightly enormous.

I've discovered that cutting them into rounds, removing the seeds and stuffing the cavity works rather nicely for oh-my-goodness-it's-a-monster-zucchini. We've also been eating a lot of vaguely normal sized zucchini at the moment: zucchini and feta frittata, zucchini parmagiana, zucchini in stir fry, zucchini on the side... If you have any yummy zucchini recipes that you'd like to share, please let me know! And we only planted 2 seeds!?!

On another note, I've signed up to make granny squares for Sarah London's Crochet a Rainbow project which will result in a whole lot of granny blankets being given to people who lost most (if not all) of their things in the still-happening Australian floods. Sarah is collecting granny squares from volunteers all over the world and stitching them together into blankets. For me this is great - I get to feel vaguely useful, get to make granny squares and don't have to sew them together (which I find rather tedious). I'm pleased to be able to contribute something other than just money - money is very necessary (obviously), but it feels quite impersonal, and it's good to be able to DO something.*

If you would like to crochet some granny squares too, go and check out all the details by clicking on the button below, or in the sidebar.

*I know that this is all about MY response from afar, but I think action is better than simply moving on and forgetting.

clickety-clack...

Could 2011 be the year of knitting?

Many of the things on my To Make list so far are knitted things. My first finished project for the year is a knitted thing. Or things: my Through The Loops Mystery sockalong socks are complete!

As these are my first handmade socks, I'm yet to work out how to get a decent photo of my own feet, but these socks are rather nice. I'm looking forward to the cooler weather rolling around so I can actually wear them!

It seems the sock bug has properly bitten - I've cast on a pair of Monkey Socks in a rather frighteningly bright colourway, but I think (I hope) it works when the pattern is stretched as it will be when it's worn. Since taking this picture about a week ago, I'm now about half way through the foot of the first sock, so I'm making some serious progress!

To provide a bit of variety, I've also started a shawl, which I'm crocheting out of an enormous cone of laceweight yarn that I ordered from WEBS along with at least three other shawls worth of laceweight yarn. I clearly had a one track mind when placing that order! I'd better include at least a couple of shawls on my To Make list this year...

Well, hello there...?

It's been a while!

For me, 2010 finished a bit like a balloon with a slow leak, resulting in a slightly flabby crumpled heap effect by the end of it. Fortunately, things are starting to get back on track a little with an emerging enthusiasm for the slow things of summer, including the beach, the pool, berries, and more time in the backyard with the girls.

Somehow, in the insanity that was December (including a husband away for a week and a half, a two-year old birthday party the day after he got back, general pre-Christmas craziness as well as hosting Christmas lunch), I did manage to make a few (rather unspectacular) gifts:

A Silvan Star washcloth for Jodie's Christmas Washcloth Swap;

A Grit Stitch washcloth for a friend who had said she'd like one (Sucker? Hopefully she wasn't just being polite!); and

two Bump Stitch washcloths (Ravelry link) for another friend, who I KNOW appreciates handmade. Do you think I have a washcloth problem?

While my handmaking of gifts was rather minimal this year, I knew I'd be busy so didn't set my goals too high. It would still be nice to make a few more things next Christmas, though.

I'm hoping to make an appearance here a few times over the next couple of weeks, but it is summertime so it's likely to be slightly erratic! I'm hoping to get back into an achievable and consistent blogging routine by February.

I also have an embarrassingly long backlog in my reader because I haven't been visiting much lately. Sanity has required that any available brain output capacity was used up knitting sock* (even if it was only two rows in a day), which meant there has rarely been any left for other things. Hopefully I'll start to get back on top of blogland soon!

I'm also hoping to be able to start thinking about the year ahead this week, which means thinking about goals for making and learning. Mmmm...new projects!

*I think I might finish sock 2 today, so there's been some progress on that front, at least!

Refreshed

Yesterday afternoon we returned from a few short days away staying at a friend's farm* cottage about 15 minutes drive from Daylesford. Looking out from the living area, we were lucky enough to be treated to views of rolling green hills and paddocks full of cows. It was wonderful! And so peaceful (if you discount the exuberance of our 21 month old daughter...!).

The view from the cottage

We managed to do some exploring of a few local attractions, including cafes, the Chocolate Mill, Lavandula Swiss Italian Farm and the Digger's St Erth garden at Blackwood (below). My daughter also honed her skills in animal identification and noise making! I think she'd love to be a country kid... Sigh. Dreaming is good.

The Garden of St Erth - a view from within the food forest being established, across the kitchen garden and espaliered fruit trees to the drought-friendly garden, with a few daffodils in bloom thrown in for good measure!

I also managed to fit in a fair bit of crafting while we were away. Two washcloths** were crocheted for my secret swap partner in Jellywares' Spring Washcloth Swap...

...several ends were sewn in on my epic granny blanket (over half way now!), and I started work on an Eden's Adam vest (Ravelry link) for my daughter...

Beginning the vest was almost a non-event though. I discovered, after running around the morning of the day we left getting the right sized needles, that when I pulled all the bits out to get started, that I needed to do a long tail cast on. Which was a slight issue as I'd never done one before. To my great surprise, I had no internet access on my iPhone, and while this was a blessing (lots of craft done rather than wasting time online...), it meant that I had to be a tad resourceful in my efforts to find out about long tail cast ons. Mum tried to help (we had phone coverage), but it was too complicated to explain without pictures. Eventually I found my way to Daylesford Library where the extremely helpful librarian set me up with 30 minutes internet access which sorted me out fantastically! In the end, I found the Knitty instructions with still shots most useful. What a saga! But it was begun, and I'm really enjoying the process of knitting it!

Tonight, we had roasted free range organic Wessex Saddleback pork belly for dinner, bought direct from the grower at Fernleigh Farm. It was absolutely delicious! It's great being able to buy meat by breed, as well as direct from the producer. We're fortunate enough to be able to do this occasionally at Farmers Markets, but it's a special treat getting it from the place where the animals actually live.

*Farm is probably an overstatement given the size of the property is 1.5 acres, but it's surrounded by farmland, so you can pretend!

**Tulip stitch washcloth (pattern here) using Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton in 8 ply and a 4mm hook.

Ends

The edge is complete, and now all I have to do is sew in the ends.

Ahem. Yes. Those ends. I naively thought that it would take me a couple of evenings worth of work. I think I'll be doing well if they're all woven in within a couple of weeks!

Some pointers:

1) It doesn't matter how frugal you think you're being, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT think it's a good idea to leave a tail behind a joining knot* of less than 5cm (and especially as small as 1cm!?!). It's not. It will not weave in and it will look horrid, aside from driving you completely barmy when trying to work out how to hide it.

2) If at all possible, weave as many ends as you can in as you go. You will thank yourself later, rather than cursing yourself over and over (as I'm doing right now!).

3) If it's too late and you've already done what I did, keep persisting and weave them all in! I'm working on the theory that this blanket will be much better on the couch than hidden away in the WIP basket. I hope so, anyway...

Kirsty has some long term/slow burn projects on the go at the moment too. Hopefully she's finding them a little less frustrating than I am! Pay her a visit and while you're there, check out the other creative spaces around the traps this week.

*I find the whole idea of joining with a knot slightly disturbing these days, but this was a 'learn to crochet' project. I have learnt much along the way, including that some strategies are not ideal. Like joining knots. A slip stitch, on the other hand, seems to have potential?

My Creative Space

The obsession continues....

And it seems to be a genuine obsession - I knitted this hat in record time! The pattern is courtesy of Leonie from Dr Bones Knits, and I must say that I think it's great! It's a very flexible pattern that can be modified to fit your yarn, needles and size required, which is perfect when you need to go stash diving because you absolutely MUST make something NOW! (Ahem.)

Details:

Pattern: Leonie's Basic Hat Recipe

Yarn: BWM Luxury 8ply in Ruby (I think - it's been in my stash for years but it seems to match the current colour card sample of that colourway!)

Sticks: 5mm dpns (I have discovered that having less than 3 stitches on a dpn can result in some novel twisty stitches...not an issue in this case as my perfectionist streak seems to have taken a holiday - the need to make fast is obviously the priority right now!)

Size: Newborn (I think. We'll find out, I guess!)

And continuing on with the obsessive theme, apparently now I MUST finish this granny blanket that's been languishing in my WIP pile for at least 4 years without being touched.

I have one more row of squares to stitch on (whip stitch - I really wish I'd known about joining with slip stitch when I started this!!) before doing the edging and then weaving in about 70 gazillion ends. This was my 'learn to crochet' project, and I've learnt an awful lot since then. Like weaving in ends as you go. Arrrgh! Even so, I MUST. FINISH. BLANKET. Weird obsession central in this house right now...

To check out some slightly less weirdly obsessive creating, visit My Creative Space at Kootoyoo!

my creative space

Another dish cloth. A fast and satisfying hook, adding another item to the (currently very small) dish cloth stash!

Details:

Pattern: Sylvan Star Washcloth from Lion Brand Yarn (free)

Yarn: Sugar & Spice worsted weight cotton in green

Hook: 5.5mm

Ravelled here.

Slightly disconcertingly I have a slightly sore wrist after hooking a couple of projects in the last few weeks. It may be completely unrelated, but I'm taking it as a suggestion to get on with some other things, like knitting, or embroidery, or, shock horror, using the sewing machine! I have several partly finished projects in each of those categories, so you never know, I might finish something else...maybe!

Visit My Creative Space here to see and be inspired by a huge range of creative happenings.

A wrap vest

I'm having a bit of a run of finished projects at the moment. Novel, but exciting!

I finished this one last night. All I need to do now is find something more appropriate than a crochet hook to use as a fastener.

It's lovely and cozy, and I can't wait to try it out properly. It should see me well through this winter as the bump (aka peanut) expands, and should transfer nicely to normal wear ready for next winter.

Details:

Pattern: Michelle's version of Leonie's wrap vest

Yarn: Patons Wilderness (colourway 503), 5.1 balls

Hook: 7mm

Ravelled here.

my creative space

It's growing! Pathetically slowly, given how much progress I make when I manage to find half an hour to hook, but it's growing all the same.

My dear friend who taught me to crochet is visiting us from Perth this week, which is wonderful for a number of reasons, not least of which is an increase in my motivation to have this finished by the end of the weekend!

If you'd like to wile away an hour or two, go on a creative adventure and visit the host of My Creative Space...

A dishcloth

During a flying 36 hour visit to Adelaide (with 18 month old in tow - will rethink timeframes next time...), I managed to find time to crochet most of a dishcloth. It was the perfect project for the trip: nice and small with a simple, easy to memorise pattern.

I finished it this afternoon, so it can go into circulation straight away!

Details:

Pattern: Tulip Stitch dishcloth, here.

Yarn: approx 40g Mission Falls worsted weight cotton

Hook size: 3.5mm

Ravelled here.

I've recently decided I need several more dishcloths, so there may be a few more made here over the next few months!

My creative space

This was last night.*

This is today.*

I really hate frogging things, but it was too long (due to me not following instructions properly... how unusual!). So rather than stick my head in the sand and pretending it will be fine (it won't), it's been pulled out and restarted.

It WILL be a Michelle version of the Leonie shrug, which I think will be perfect for keeping me warm this winter while making way for my ever expanding belly.

Gah! At least having started it once already, I know that it will come together really quickly! I'm giving myself 2 weeks, with not too many opportunities for crafty distractibility....

Lots of craftiness can be found over at Kootoyoo today. Go and check it out!

*Same yarn, different light. The true colour is somewhere in between.

my creative space

Experimenting again.

This time with a ridiculously long crochet hook and some yarn that came from Knitter Sue. I'm liking the yarn more and more as I play with it!

Learning a new technique, and then experimenting with the pattern while waiting for the yarn I want to use for the project I have in mind to come into the wool shop!

To visit more creative spaces, drop in on Kirsty.

A pincushion

Inspired by this one (and no, I don't speak Danish - if that's what it is!?!). I used Lucy's flat circle pattern to get the shape, omitting every 3rd row to stop the unwanted wavy feature that appeared, most likely due to a combination of using dc rather than htc, and the heavy weight of the yarn.

I used Noro Silk Garden in colourway 241 (discontinued - spewing). The colours are much deeper and more intense than they appear in the photos - a flaw in my photography skills or camera or both I suspect. The button is a lovely ruby red, if that's any indication!

Unfortunately I like the finished product so much that I'd like to keep it for myself, but if I did that my swaperama partner would probably never get anything!

my creative space

Four narrow strips of crochet destined to become button loops being beaten into submission with water and pins.

We'll see if it works!

Visit the home of My Creative Space here.

my creative space

Experimenting.

A very small hook and some fine cotton.

It's possible I may go blind in the process, but I'm hoping to have some passable button loops before too long! No matter what, it will be easier than button holes.

Join in all the creative fun at Kirsty's.

String bags

I've been crocheting string bags. It's one of those situations that you might be familiar with, when you discover a pattern that's relatively simple and quick and all of a sudden you've made multiples? This rarely happens to me, because I tend to do one thing, learn lots about how I could do it better and move on to the next thing. It's possibly because I have a short attention span, but I like to think it's because I like to try new things...?

But these string bags? They're really very simple and they also look great, so I decided they'd be great presents. They're hooked using linen yarn, which has a beautiful sheen and is really strong, so they wear really well. And if you wash them, the yarn just gets softer and softer! AND, they screw up into a nice small bundle, so you can carry them around in your handbag so you never have to use a plastic bag again! Like I said, they're great.

My mother's Christmas present was finished on Christmas night, so in typical fashion for our family, she received it with the crochet hook still attached. Oops. At least it was finished before she went home! This one is in the Sea grass colourway.

This one was started and finished while we were away after Christmas, and is officially my first finished project for 2010! This used the French Blue colourway that my sister brought back from New York for me to make her a string bag. Done.

So that's 3* string bags so far. I have one more skein of linen still to be wound, but once that's morphed into a string bag of it's own, that might be the last for a little while at least. Or until I next 'need' to order from Purl....

*My first string bag here.

Edited to add: The super-easy pattern can be found here.

We made it!

This weekend has been one of the busiest we've had in a long time! In addition to the usual Christmas-related silliness that happens at this time of year, my little one turned 1 on Friday! For this birthday, we took the relatively-low-key-morning-tea-time-in-the-park option, which worked fabulously. There was play equipment nearby to keep the older kids entertained, and there was proper coffee (supplied by us) to keep the adults happy.

And I made and decorated a cake!

Which I thought was yummy, and so did uber goober!

I managed to finish the cardi in time, too, but it was a decidedly chilly summer's day and the lovely short sleeves in the cardi weren't going to do the job. Oh well, there'll be another opportunity, I'm sure!

I also somewhere found the time and a (semi) willing sucker to help me wind my yarn, which means I've now started a time-pressured project. Hopefully I'll find the time to finish it!

My creative space

My creative space is a tad overloaded today! It's mostly a function of 'that time of year', slightly complicated by a first birthday tomorrow!?!

I've only included the Need. To. Sort. It. Now. stuff: there's oh, so many other projects going on right now too, but SOMETHING must be put on the back burner!!

So today:

I need to finalise a birthday cake for a party on Saturday. I think for this birthday, the book is about inspiration rather than replication - I'm sure I have that to look forward to in the years to come;

I need to make a cheesecake today for a Christmas party tomorrow night. No time tomorrow;

I need to wind a skein of yarn for a Christmas gift project that needs to be started yesterday; AND I really want to get this cardigan finished!! All that needs to be done is the final edging and weaving the ends in. No more than an hour's work, but where do I find the hour!?!

Oh, and the in-laws arrive this afternoon for a few days, which may mean more or less time. We'll see...

Is everyone else's creative space this chaotic in the lead up to Christmas? Visit Kirsty to find out!!

Return from Never Never Land

I've spent the last 11 days absent from blogland while visiting my parents in Northern NSW. My husband was in PNG for a little over a week, and as I'm not a particularly good single parent, I took my daughter to hang out with her grandparents.

Other than a few hairy moments - one involving my nearly one-year-old and the chilli above (this is the aftermath!), we enjoyed ourselves immensely. Hopefully it won't take too long for the grandparents to recover!

I very nearly finished a crocheted cardi which is so close I might even have pictures sometime this week. But that depends on whether or not I spend too long starting to catch up on the 500+ blog entries in my reader. Gulp!

One of the benefits of temporary family separation is presents! This is a bilum that I received from my husband, and given my current interest in crocheting string bags, it's particularly appropriate! The stitch detail is really interesting, and I think I'd like to find out more about how they're made. You never know, I might make one myself one day!