In and Out.

Out: My FlowerPress Brooch swap.

My doily brooch, some small love heart brooches, some Australian animal chocolates, a little purse I made and a Foxs Lane card.

Out: The Green Sleeves dress,

...a little appliqued t'shirt (it's always nice to add a little surprise) and Foxs Lane card, all tied up with a vintage sheet selvage ribbon.

Out: The Second Blue Flower dress,

...a little t'shirt surprise, a Foxs Lane card, all tied up with a vintage sheet selvage ribbon.

In: The most divine doily tea towel from gorgeous Susie at Flower Press. It's a caravan prezzie. Hooray!! Thank you so much Susie, I adore it. xx

Out: A bunch of interchangeable circular knitting needles Mary lent me when I was trying to decide on a brand. How ace is blogland! Thanks Mary.

Out: A doily brooch and a couple of love heart brooches for Miss Jennie just because.

I often wonder if the post office people draw straws when they see me coming.

Have you had any fun mail lately? Hope so.

And be honest, were you hoping this post was about something a bit more exciting?

See ya! x

magic loop.

Today I've been thinking about new skills you learn as you need them. Stuff you find out about because you want to. New skills that keep it interesting.

The other day Bren and I were trying to teach Indi to do long subtraction for her homework. She had to learn it but didn't necessarily want to. It didn't seem at all relevant to her life and I didn't blame her.

But I'm not talking about school skills. Skills that you have no idea when or if or how you'll ever make use of them in real life. I mean skills you learn because you choose to. Because you want to. Because it makes life easier, or more exciting or interesting.

This afternoon I cast on 72 stitches for a new born baby beanie but then realised that I didn't have small enough circular needles to join them in the round. My choices were to use double pointed needles which I don't feel particularly comfortable with or to learn the magic loop.

This lady showed me how to do it. She was so patient, such a great teacher and repeated herself over and over until I was confident I knew what I was doing. I can now magic loop.

I love the magic loop!

But if I had to learn it at school I might not have.

This week Farmer Bren has learnt all about earthships, Indi has learnt how to knit, Jazzy has learnt how to do a ballet leap and Miss Pepper has learnt how to tell a joke. I'm sure we've all learnt about a gazillion other things too but these are the things we've been the most excited about and hungry for.

BUT I do have to add that there is such thing as negative learning too. During the week when I was at my sickest I made the mistake of googling my symptoms only to discover that I had about three weeks to live. My doctor thought it was hilarious. I wont be doing that again in a hurry.

So have you learnt anything cool lately? Do tell...

See ya. XX

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

Jazzy's cap sleeved spring top.

I cast off the Cap Sleeved Spring Top this afternoon. Details here.

It was the first thing I have knitted in the round on circular needles and I loved it. Oh, except for the bit when I spent ages trying to work out how to do stockinette stitch in the round. Finally I asked Mr Google who told me that it means knit on one side, purl on the other. So on circular needles its knit/knit/knit.

It looks great on Pepper too but I can't get it off Jazzy to show you.

Oh and the skipping. It seems that when a girl in our house turns six and a half then she doesn't want to do anything that doesn't involve a rope and some jumping. She's obsessed. So much so that her feet ache but its not stopping her. And she told me today that when she grows up she wants to marry her skipping rope. Go Jazzy go!

And finally for the winner of Cath's Make book.

Drum roll please...........................

The winner is PUFFY INGAL!!

(aka Mel from From Little Things. Yay!)

Thanks for all the brilliant comments. You guys had me laughing so hard that in the end I had to explain to the littles what I kept laughing at. Silly names of course.

Oh and I think Bren's is the best of all.

My husband's silly/porn name is Shlemazel Shakespeare!

And sorry to all those who landed here from some x-rated/adult movie twitter site, I know its not quite what you had hoped for. (Love those google alerts!)

I hope you are having a fabulous weekend. XX

2 unrelated tales.

Tale one:

I have just finished the back bottom (ha!) of my next knitting project. I am knitting in cotton this time and it feels lovely. I am working on circular needles for the first time and knitting seed stitch which is another first.

The stitch holder belonged to Bren's Nana. She was an amazing knitter/crocheter/dress maker. I tried to learn off her a few times but I couldn't quite get it. The time wasn't right for me. I still am a bit sad thought that I could never take advantage of her expertise.

I have been knitting like mad now for a week and a day and I have a horrible pain in my left shoulder blade. A similar thing happened to me last year when I learnt how to crochet.

I took my knitting to my pilates class yesterday and she taught me how to knit ergonomically.

• Sit on a straight backed chair with both your feet flat on the floor.
• Use a chair with arm rests and make sure your left (for right handers) elbow is supported on the left arm rest.
• Make sure your shoulders are down at all times.
• Try to make your hand and arm movements as big as possible.
• Make sure you get up every now and then to walk around.

I'm trying.

Tale two:

Every morning after the big girls are at school, Miss Pepper and I bake the bread for the day. Once we have measured out the ingredients and formed the dough, she pulls off her own bread bit and kneads it. We oil the tins, we leave our breads to prove, we punch them down and form the loaves, let them rise again and then we bake them.

Then each afternoon, when she wakes up from her nap, she eats her bread for lunch. Sometimes, like today, when she extra hungry and 'growing up quickly', she'll have a slice of mine too.

I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday. X

ps. Thanks so much Annette for the wonderful package of sewing and knitting treasures. XX