1) I finished The Rainbow Speckled Olearia last night. I love this pattern and it was pretty easy the second time around until I got to the second sleeve. At that stage I should have been on the home stretch but I made a big mistake and pulled it apart a bit roughly and ended up somehow pulling apart some of the body stitches too. I almost gave up, but after lying on my bed for a while and deep breathing, I came back and somehow managed to stitch it all back together again. Raveled here.2) My Mum has a story in this issue of Notebook magazine. You should totally read it. Its so beautiful and sad and she's my Mum and I'm so proud. Yay!
3) The patchwork dress I made last week is on its way to a little girl who lost her home in the New Zealand earthquake via Deb. Are you are a patch worker? If so, Deb is collecting blocks to sew into quilts for some more families that lost their homes, you could make one too.4) We are on school holidays. Indi is in Melbourne at her cousins' house and I am taking the little girls to Plaster Fun House in Ballarat. They love it. Me, I have nightmares sometimes about being locked in there with the magazines from the eighties, the fluoro lighting and the soft rock radio blaring. I'm hoping to get some knitting done.
5) I still haven't officially unpacked from our holiday but the bags are slowly emptying as we take out clothes to wear every day. If I leave it long enough, maybe I wont need to unpack.6) The next thing I am knitting is a beanie for a birthday I missed last January. Woops.
7) Pepper is on some kind of banana diet. I have no idea what its all about but that's all she wants to eat. She loves them.
8) I am absolutely obsessed with dying yarn although I haven't dyed any yet. I think Mr Google is getting well and truly sick of me asking him the same questions about fixers and organic dyes and naked yarns.Ok, I feel better now that's all out.
How about you? What's going on in your life?
I hope you are happy. XX
Oh I love that one too, how beautiful. It sounds exciting that your going to try and learn how to dye yarn, I always love hand-dyed yarns as you get so many different colors that you cant really buy in shops! Pepper must be full of energy eating bananas. Isabelle gets told by her dance teacher to eat them so she doesnt get tired but she doesnt really seem to like them much. Congrats to your mum too.
ReplyDeleteIt looks beautiful!
ReplyDeleteBeautiful and good for you...deep breathing, whatever it takes but good to get it done. I hate it when you leave something because it is a sad reminder every time you look at it. This way you have accomplished something or conquered it in some patterns.
ReplyDeleteGreat cardi. Deep breathing - the answer to most predicaments me thinks.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy school holidays ... plaster fun - sounds found - I'm hoping you post some photos.
Glad you persevered with the cardi. I love all your knitting endeavours. Have this pattern but have now gotten sidetracked by a cardi for me. But at least i have started knitting. And I am a bit partial to browsing through the occasional edition of Notebook so sounds like this one would be a good one. (And a banana diet is much better than a Timtam diet I guess. If she eats green ones, does that count for some green veges in her diet lol?)
ReplyDeleteRe: point #5 ~ so glad to hear I'm not the only who uses that tactic to unpack!
ReplyDeleteI would so be painting a plaster statue or money box with the girls - FUN! I still have fond memories of going to the races with my gran & being abandoned at the plaster painting stall thingy... oh I want to go....!!!!
ReplyDeleteSuper dooper purty knitting lady!
I bought a heap of undyed Nundle wool when I was at the mill. I have big plans one of these days and thought it might make a fun activity with the kids and some food dye.
ReplyDeleteToday we leave to start to travel down for the funeral, the first flower was out on my Banksia Rose this morning which was a little gift in sad times.
Luckily that Mr Google is a patient chap.
ReplyDeleteI love the idea of you dying some yarn!
And yay for your mum.
(p.s. I'm a passive unpacker too, especially after holidays!)
I love the cardi and especially love the shorts over stockings - one of my favourite looks for preschoolers!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the play centre - can't wait to see what you're knitting up next.
The cardi is gorgeous - another great job. I too have been toying with the idea of dyeing my own wool. I would so love to dye my own doll hair. Hope you have a lovely time in the holidays, and enjoy the plaster painting.
ReplyDeleteYou unpack the same way that I do LOL
ReplyDeletethe cardi came out great - you really make me wanna go back to knitting =))
ReplyDeleteAnd as for your unpacking =D this made me laugh so hard now - because every time we travel I promise myself I will unpack as soon as we get home, though it never really happen and somehow it "unpack itself" through the days =D
The cardi is beautiful.
ReplyDeleteI'm with Vic, if I were there at the Plaster Fun House, the girls wouldn't be the only ones loving it.
not sure about the banana diet either but am slightly worried she may get clogged up ( well that's what happens to me if I eat too many bananas)
xo
SOrry that was WAY more info than you needed xo
Love this photoshoot.... I can almost hear you asking "just hold your arms out a little....ohhhh perfect!"
ReplyDeleteThis version of Oleria is sublime :)
you are very patient to undo & then redo, it looks wonderful.
ReplyDeleteyay for your mum, you should definitely feel proud & be smiling & telling everyone.
that little girl will be smiling when she sees her new dress, your creations make people smile.
deep breaths & happy week to you MS Kate ♥
it looks just beautiful! So glad everything is happy over your way. Sun is shining now & the boys are outside playing the best game..so, happy here too! x
ReplyDelete"teddybearswednesday" I was thinking that too, glad you said it first... such a lovely idea for a very special dress... must remember to buy this months notebook :-)
ReplyDeleteGeorgeous cardi. Glad deep breathing helped you resolve your problems ...
ReplyDeleteYay for the cardi it is lovely...I think I want one of those for myself especially as it is knit in the round!!
ReplyDeleteDeep breathing and chanting 'this moment will pass' always helps centre the mind....doesn't fix the knitting but it does make us more mindful next time :-)
Natural dyeing by Jackie Crook and sold thru interweave is a good place for a start xx
How lovely to send that patchwork dress to a little girl affected by the quake. I'm sure she will love it whoever she is. And I'm glad your deep breathing allowed you to persevere with your 2nd Olearia. It's divine.
ReplyDeletei haven't unpacked either. smile.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful, beautiful, beautiful, we love you!!! Smile
ReplyDeletecardi looks great, also looks like you have an excuse to go button fossicking. Shout out if you need any dyeing help, I've got a couple of books kicking around on natural dyeing that could be handy. (I wonder if diff coloured carrots, impart dye...hmm got me thinking now)
ReplyDeletemmmmm sounds like we need to update our magazine collection...
ReplyDeletebeen trying to get the landlord to change the lighting but no joy there...at least we re did the floor and gave it a paint job so hopefully that helped..
As long as the kids enjoy the painting thats the main thing...Brad Plaster Fun House
I've got a tutorial on my blog on how to dye with food colouring. No nasty toxic mordants or anything.
ReplyDeleteWhen I dye for my etsy shop I use acid dyes, but honestly the food dyes are just as good! Give me a shout out if you want any help.
maybe you could give brad some suggestions about what kind of magazines you would like to read Kate :-D ...so funny.... i love your knitting. we unpack (or dont unpack) that way too. im usually tripping over a suitcase for a few months after the journey..ah well. i hope the warm spring sun comes to visit daylesford soon. xx
ReplyDeleteMiss Peppers dimply knuckles are killing me - so darn cute. The cardigan is gorgeous, yay for deep breathing.
ReplyDeleteThe olearia looks great!
ReplyDeleteI'm in a dyeing frame of mind too at the moment, must be Spring! We're chemical free, so I can't use acid dyes in our house so we just use food dyes, very keen to experiment with more organic methods too.
Wowee - I love this one
ReplyDeleteWow, your Rainbow Speckled Olearia is luscious! I want one for me, hehe.
ReplyDeleteMy two girls, ages 1 and 4.5, are on the same banana diet - I dont know what it going on with them.
Eight bits of excellent-ness my dear. I have been a slack commenter but I have been watching your last few posts and commenting telepathically ... Your knitting progress astounds me! x
ReplyDeleteGo #6!! Can't wait. xx
ReplyDeleteI went to a Plaster Fun House as a kid, I have one of mine still: a turtle not so well done, and 2 of my mum's: scotty dog book ends: beautifully done: I was just a kid!!
ReplyDeleteGood memories!
Okay.....New Idea and Womans Days now to read at Ballarat Plaster Fun House...and I guarantee they are not from the 80's lol...they are only a month old i think... :-)
ReplyDeleteBrad....PFH
Hi Kate What a massive wake-up call your posts subsequent to this have been - thank you.
ReplyDeleteAnd I have to say - very cool Bradbill.
Hi! I know this is kinda off topic however , I'd figured I'd ask.
ReplyDeleteWould you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest writing a blog article or vice-versa?
My blog goes over a lot of the same subjects as
yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you're interested feel free to shoot me an e-mail. I look forward to hearing from you! Wonderful blog by the way!
My webpage; diets that really work