Tuesday, August 31, 2010

Stuff in my head.

I haven't been spending much time on the computer lately. In the beginning it was hard, I felt guilty, but now that I am used to it, its hard to come back.

I am knitting something for me. Its a bit fun. I have no idea if the gauge is right or if it'll fit but I am hopeful. 282 stitches in a row means each row is taking a looooooooong time though.

I am reading a book at the moment that is full of characters that I don't like. I want to persevere because it sounds like an interesting story but I am struggling. Sometimes I find myself alternating a chapter of the book with a game of spider solitaire on my phone.

An older man came up to me in a cafe yesterday to tell me he thought my girls were so gorgeous and well behaved and allowed to have fun and that he thought I looked like I was a great mother. What a nice thing to do. Sometimes they are, sometimes they are not. Sometimes I am, sometimes I'm not. But yesterday that felt like the best gift I could get.

In a game of 'would you rather', I claimed to love coffee so much that I would rather live in freezing cold and have lots of coffee than hot and tropical with no coffee at all.

Yesterday Indi and her scooter slipped on some wet bricks and went flying. She's ok. A bit battered and bruised but I think it gave us more of a fright than anything else.

Just after that happened, Jazzy and I ran in the pouring rain for about 15 minutes to get where we needed to go. We were soaked through and jumping in puddles and singing and laughing. We had a ball.

When we came home we had a bath with Pepper who only wanted to play the naughty girl that kicked.

I'm good. I'm happy. I'm feeling like so far this week its all working.

How are you?

Friday, August 27, 2010

Olearia

I think one of the reasons I learnt to knit, was so I could knit Olearia. I stumbled upon it at Georgie's one creative space Thursday and kept going back to check on it. It was love at first sight.

I love the long and short sleeved versions, the gathered yoke, the fact that it is knitted in one piece and how cute it looks over a sundress or over a long sleeved top.

I actually knitted the size three for Miss Pepper but it seems to have grown after I steamed it last night and is a perfect size for almost seven year old Jazzy.

Jazzy is a much more willing model at the moment than Pepper so its a win win really isn't it.

Jazzy who lost a tooth this morning, who cannot stop writing, who is my skipping girl, who is thriving on being the good girl at the moment, my middle princess.

With the Olearia cast off, its time to work out what's next. I'm still not fast enough a knitter to contemplate anything for me and am obsessed with knitting in the round so that narrows it down. Maybe something lacey? Hmm...

Have a wonderful weekend wherever you may be. XX

Monday, August 23, 2010

@ my house.

At my house today I am weighing yarn,

I am going through my clothes and making an op shop mountain,

and I am hearing my Dad's voice in mine when I ask my girls what 'this so called music they are listening to is.'

At my house today, I slammed a block of wood on my finger and saw stars.

At my house today I am crocheting 3d floral squares,

I am feeling cold in my bones but planning for warmth,

I am holding my little one as she is sick in the laundry basket,

and I am looking at gorgeous photos of vintage sheet quilts.

At my house today I am rewarding myself for jobs ticked off my list, with rows of the Olearia and although I am not a pink person, Pepper's bright choice is making me happy.

After a year of having an iphone at my house, today I have become obsessed with the ipod in it. I am listening to it on random but am most excited when a Joshua Radin song comes on.

Do you have any crafty podcasts you can recommend for me and my ipod at my house?

I hope your week at your house has gotten off to a great start.

See ya at Lou's house. XX

Sunday, August 22, 2010

The unravelling.

One of the handy things about having a blog for me, is that I get to document the projects that didn't work. The projects that for whatever reason wont be completed. The projects that will be cut up and used for scraps or unravelled later to become something else.

Those failures have their place in my archives. They were begun with a burst of inspiration, their materials carefully gathered and the pattern worked out or studied. They were drawn or cut or cast on or sewn or knit or hooked.

There was so much promise.

And then there wasn't.

For whatever reason it stopped working. It stopped being enjoyable. There were too many mistakes. The wrong size was chosen. It was done and undone and redone so many times that it became messy. It became a chore.

But I think its an important part of the journey to let these projects go. To acknowledge them. To accept that you probably learnt a thing or two along the way. To realise that you aren't a failure, just that the project wasn't a success.

I cast on an Eden for Jazzy the day I finished Pepper's. I was excited and it was going to be a great dress for wearing over jeans and a top in winter and by itself in summer.

But somewhere along the line I realised I was over it. I had pulled bits apart and reknit them so many times that the stitch count was all wrong and the knitting was a mess.

To make my final decision I got her to try on what I had so far. She didn't like it at all and said she'd never wear it. She thought the arm holes were far too big and it looked stretched in places and she wasn't mad on the colour. At one stage she spun around and pulled half the stitches off the needles.

And then I realised I wanted the size four circs it was using to start the Olearia.

So I pulled it apart and cast on this.

And I'm happy that I have a blog to document it and remember it.

Are you ok with your failures? Do you blog them?

I hope your weekend is a happy one. We are trying on clothes to see what fits and what doesn't, playing Monopoly and singing along to Abba. XX

Friday, August 20, 2010

Friday six. (edited)


1) I made a bag late yesterday afternoon. I made it using fabric I bought at a garage sale not so long ago. My farmer boy doesn't like it. He says it looks like a skirt gone wrong. Maybe it does. I based the pattern on the handbag I use everyday. I think it'll make a good craft bag. The bag you grab when you leave the house in the hope that you'll get a chance for some craft on the go. It does have a very narrow opening though and I'm thinking of adding a zipper to make more room for rummaging around.

2) This week I have started adding a dollop of eucalyptus oil to my laundry. I love it! Instead of wearing musty, wintry, dried inside smelling clothes, we are walking around smelling fresh and clean like a forest. Its good for the sinuses too. I highly recommend it.

3) The farmer boy has had a skip delivered so I am going to spend the rest of the day sorting through house crap, trying to fill it before he does with farm stuff.

4) This stunning cloud necklace arrived in the post today. Christina made it. I won it over at her blog and she has a shop too. I wish I could describe to you how much I adore it and how perfect it is. Thank you so much Christina.

5) I love licorice and every Friday after we do our deliveries in town, we buy a block of this hard as a rock stuff to celebrate the end of the week and a job well done. Its break your teeth stuff and its delicious. Its Friday today! Yay! Gobble, gobble...


6) If you want number 6 you'll have to click on over to Susie's. I'm hanging out over there today doing show and tell.

Have a great weekend wont you. XX

Thursday, August 19, 2010

My creative space.

There's a bit of this and a bit of that going on in my creative space this morning.

I've been going back to crochet basics trying to work out how to hook a rectangle. A granny rectangle. It doesn't quite have the same ring to its name as the granny square but it has so many possibilities. I'm a bit excited. Its the small things...

I must say, it felt great to be hooking again after all this time.

And I've been making a lap top cozy for Miss Mary Mac who has a bit of travel in her near future.

I've used some old woollen blanket and based it on a picture I saw a while back in a book in a shop in Woodend. Why oh why didn't I buy that book? I've been dreaming about all the gorgeous pictures inside it ever since.

Here's a peek at the vintage sheet lining and all the unsnipped threads.

I crocheted a trim for the flap to be tucked into but then sewed it to the wrong side. Oops!

So right now, after I press publish and admire Pepper's block tower, I'm going to continue crocheting this trim which I will make much wider and longer than the last. This one will be stitched to the back of the bag and have room at the front for the flap to tuck in and secure.

Maybe I'll do a button or velcro closure too.

So what's going on in your space today?
I'm heading to Kirsty's to see.
Have a creative Thursday y'all. XX

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Wednesday.

So how's it going at yours this fine Wednesday morning?

So far this week, things here seem to be pretty good. While last week was an emotional roller coaster that had me in tears more than once, this week there is far less drama and while things are chaotic as always, they somehow seem more manageable.

This could be because we have had workmen in and out and up into the roof all week and so I have left a lot of the house work go. This means I've had more time to play. Yay!

It could also be because I got some awful, awful news a few days ago and now I am much more aware of what I have and how lucky I am. When I am patient and happy, it makes such a difference to their behaviour. Why can't I always remember this?

It also could be winter. Although this icy weather depresses me, it is also our quiet time here on the farm. Less farm jobs to do, means a hot chocolate in a cafe after school, or a game of Monopoly before bed. For all my whinging, I think winter's calmness is so important for our family life after the crazy vegie season.

It could also be that we were due for a few happy, relaxed days. It was our turn.

It also could be just because.

Yeah and about Pepper's scratched up nose.
Yesterday I took an exhausted child who had not had her nap, due to all the workmen in and out of our house, to the super market at peak hour. She was obviously tired but I thought she was coping really well until she answered the checkout girl in her loudest voice that her name was F***er!! I quickly ushered her out of there, only to have her trip over some man's feet and land on her nose. OUCH!

Hmmm maybe I wont be getting that Mother of the year award after all.

Today she is getting so sick of me wanting to kiss that little pussy cat nose all the time.

But I guess those ups and downs are what parenting is all about really isn't it. I guess it keeps it interesting.

And this morning I cast off and wove in the ends of my scarf.
Details here.

I guess that means I have to call up my friend and make a time to give it to her. The only problem is that after taking a pic of me wearing it, I don't want to take it off.

Have fun out there. XX

Monday, August 16, 2010

@ my house.

At my house today there is a hive of activity, but this pile of gorgeous yarns I bought yesterday is sitting on the kitchen table taunting me. Come and play with us, they are teasing, we'd look great knitted up as a cardi, imagine how gorgeous it would feel to knit with us, stop what you're doing and come and play...

At my house today there are some guys with a heavy duty vacuum cleaner sucking the 20 year old insulation out of our roof. Once that's done the electrician will come and check the wiring and then the exterminator will come and lay mouse bait and then these guys will come back and put in the new insulation.

At my house today I am baking an apple cake from this recipe, a favourite in this house.

At my house today my farmer boy is trying to make some sense of the new egg producers standards coming in this October. So far it looks like we are going to have to stamp every egg we sell as well as who knows what egg cleaning regimen. He has been reading stuff online and talking on the phone all morning. Today my farmer boy has clean hands.

At my house today it has rained, sleeted, snowed and the wind has howled her arctic, icy breath through the forest and under my skin. Brrrr.

At my house today there are the usual laundry, shopping, cooking, organising chores being done but today I have resigned myself that it is a losing battle and I am only doing what has to be done. The rest can and will wait until tomorrow when there might be less going on at my house.

At my house today I am soooooooo looking forward to craft night tonight when I can slow down and knit a few more rows of this scarf that is to be gifted, a bit late, to a gorgeous friend of mine. I think it might be the first and last scarf I knit though as the same, same, sameness of the pattern is getting a bit tedious.

What going on at your house today?
I'm off to check it out at Buttons By Lou Lou.

Sunday, August 15, 2010

The Yandoit Lesbian Wool Festival.


When Pepper went down for her nap today, the big girls, my sister Meg and I headed off to The Yandoit Lesbian Wool Festival.

On the flyer it warned us that only women would be allowed in and that only lesbians would be allowed to exhibit.

As soon as we walked into the hall, the girls were whisked off for a lesson in felt ball making.

They loved it and rolled and rolled and rolled.

To be honest, as much as I love the look of felt, I just cannot seem to get past that yellow soap smell. Ewww.

With the girls otherwise occupied, it left us free to watch the spinning lesson,

to appreciate the displays,

to add another bunting example to my inspiration, (this one is sewn straight onto blanket squares and was made by the amazing Alanah who put the whole festival together),

to partake in a bit of retail therapy,

to search for the perfect buttons,

and to touch, smell and discuss the wool with the spinner/dyer/felter/shearer.

I bought that pink hand dyed, hand spun wool in the top of the basket. It has a sparkle through it and is totally divine.

There were granny square lessons, (the woman on the right won that felted shawl in the raffle),

and gorgeous examples of woolly crafts like this nest.

We all loved the whole festival. It had such a warm, community feel to it. It was wonderful to be able to discuss all things wool with people who wanted and cared to discuss it.

And it was great to be able to ask the silly questions I've been thinking about with no one to ask. Yes, crochet uses about 20% more wool than knitting and yes, some painted wool patterns are better suited to crochet because they have wider blocks of colour. I also found a spinning teacher which is a bit exciting.

I've come home with some beautiful wool to add to the stash and a thought that I might have to beg Alanah to make an exception and let me be part of it next year.

I hope you enjoy what's left of your weekend. X

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