Twenty ninth

On the twenty ninth day of our year Miss Indi went back to school, the wind blew an absolute gale, I got an email from a blog friend that made me cry, in a good way, and we built the smalls a cubby-house on the back deck where they spent most of the day.









On the twenty ninth day of the year we did jobs in the garden, we built a small fire in the garden and we made and enjoyed morning tea with my parents - in the garden.



On the twenty ninth day of the year we started making plans for the rest of the year. We spoke of our priorities, about how to separate money from happiness in our definition of success and of where each of our girls are and what they might need from us as time goes by.

On the twenty ninth day of the year the smalls made a giant chatterbox and laughed hysterically as they read us the messages under the flaps, Miss Indi came home smiling from school and although we probably didn't achieve all that much, I blame the wind, we had a really happy day together.

When we came in to make dinner, this little arrangement was waiting upon the kitchen table - just like that.


So how about you, what did you get up to today and how's the wind at your place?



I hope you get the message you've been hoping for.


Love Kate xx

thirteenth

For some reason I decided that today I would post some of the photos Cath Muscat took of our family for Doug Purdie's Backyard Bees book. I love those photos of us five in our bee suits and I've been planning on blogging them ever since she sent them to us on a disc months and months ago. I'd gotten permission from the photographer, from the publisher and all I had to do was load them up and press publish. But then last year I didn't have a very bloggy year and days and weeks and months went by and I never did.

So just before, while I was walking around the block with Indi, I decided that today was the day.

As soon as we came home I went straight to the spot I was sure they were, and they weren't. So I went to the next most likely spot and they weren't either. And then I started rummaging, and shuffling, and hunting, and having a minor freak out. I really got a bee in my bonnet. One of the worst things that can happen to a disorganised, chaotic person is to lose something and it seems I have and I'm not happy about it.

So for now there will be no bee photos.

But while I was searching what I did find was some of my abandoned craft projects. Some works that felt like brilliant ideas at the time. All of them at different stages of completion, but all put aside for new projects all the same.

So in the interest of full disclosure, and because I have lost the bee pics, I present six projects that may or may not remain unfinished forever.

Work In Process (WIP) one

A pile of 31 crochet motives I made last May, with their tails still hanging out, never blocked, never hung, never admired as a finished project. Shame.



WIP two

There was a time last year when Miss Pepper was having awful nightmares and we bought her a tacky dream-catcher to try and solve the problem quickly. I had full intentions of knitting her a beautiful Mama - made one instead. Lucky she grew out of that phase and didn't rely on my creation, hey.



WIP three

I once had the awesome plan to teach myself to be a better knitter by knitting every single square in the book 201 Knitting Motifs, Blocks, Projects and Ideas. After I finished I intended to sew them all together to make a blanket. Unfortunately I only got to square 45. I do love this project though and think I still might pick it up again from time to time. Hopefully.



WIP four

I have all these little piles of fabric that were once intended for greatness. Some for dresses for the girls, some for quilts and some for other grand plans. Some are wrapped in bits of pattern, some have bits cut out and ready and some like this pile are just an idea.



WIP five 

Is half a Mara shawl.

Last winter I wore my grey Mara almost everyday and often thought how nice it would be to have a blue one. So I cast one on. I have absolutely no idea why I put it down. Perhaps I'll pick it up again when the days get chilly.



WIP six

Is a rug I started crocheting from strips of vintage sheets last July. I think I never went any further because the making hurt my hands. Maybe I should do a round or two, here and there though because it's beginnings are pretty cute.

Not shown are the Olinda cardigan I started over a year ago and put aside for a bit and lost my place in the pattern, a couple of crochet blankets that we snuggle under often but that still have straggly unsewn in ends, and probably a few more projects that I didn't unearth this afternoon and therefore can't remember.

Hmmmm a bit naughty hey.

So tell me lovely folk, do you have a hidden stash of WIP's or are you loyal and monogamous to the last darned end?


I hope you have something wonderful going on to keep you busy.

Love ya!

xx

knits and knots and natters

The other day I went looking for a bag of green flecked wool that I knew I had but couldn't remember where I'd put. I searched high and then I searched low and found it under my bed with a bunch of other bits and pieces of the woolly persuasion including the start of a granny hottie that I hooked up last year. Fancy that! I fully remember making that red one but I wonder why I started and then stopped this green one. I'd better finish it off don't you think.


After I found the green wool I cast on some Emerald Fingerless Mittens to swap with a potter for some beakers. It feels a bit funny to be making something for someone I've never even met in real life but a bit fun all the same. I hope she likes them.


In the middle of all this I turned around in my desk chair one day and contemplated the stacks of vintage sheets that I have been collecting but neglecting for years. Piles of them all neatly folded and colour coded. I thought about cutting out and sewing a dress for someone but it's not really sundress weather. So I pulled some down, tore off some 3cm lengths, found a 10mm hook, crocheted a 26 chain stitches and started a rag rug.

The beginning was quick and fun but then it started hurting my hands and curling up at the edges so I took a break. It's so cold and there's so much knitting to be done that I can't really afford to hurt myself right now. Or ever. I think I've got a 15mm hook around here somewhere that might help  to make it looser and easier.

If you were an oversized crochet hook where would you hide from me?


The minute before I put my rag rug aside to rest it occurred to me that my time would probably be better spent making something woolly and wearable. In these crazy cold days something that protects against the chilliness must be valued higher than something pretty, every single time.

So I systematically searched through my stash, found three bandless balls of something that looked 12plyish, found a pattern on Ravelry, swatched and cast on. And despite the fact that Indi said I would never wear that colour, I knitted on.

It was a quick knit and after about two nights I found myself nearing the end of the first ball which in turn made me happy and then concerned. Happy because I could imagine myself wearing my thick, cuddly cardi by the end of the week. And then concerned because there was no way I was a third of the way into the knit and yet here I was a third of the way into my wool.

That's when I realised I had underestimated the amount of yarn I would need. And I got out the kitchen scales and weighed it all up and realised that I was right, I was way under. Oops. I'm so used to knitting 8ply that I had forgotten that the same weight of 12ply would give me less length. And being wool from the Bendigo Woollen Mills back-room I knew there wasn't much chance of getting any more. Bum!


After that I knitted up some Small Fry Fingerless gloves for Pepper. Look at her cute little meditation hands.


Next up is socks. Wish me luck.

Or maybe I'll have to put all that on hold to knit with the smooshiest yarn ever that just arrived in Jodie's Jellywares Winter yarn club. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Decisions. Decisions.

So that's me all caught up creatively.
How about you? What've you been up to?

I hope you're feeling inspired and creative. I hope you've got a fun project on the go.

Ciao!

xx

My 'what makes me happy' to-do list.

Hello day before summer and very last day of November!!

What a crazy time of year you are.

I don't know about you, but I'm finding my days are disappearing in a sea of pick ups and drop offs, final this and preparing for that, make lots of this and rehearse for that. There's costumes and projects, and food shares and transitions and meetings and excursions and parties and inspections and reports and dead-lines and concerts and dances and assemblies...and there are three, tired, fragile children.

Yesterday I drove in and out of town nine times!!!!

And so being the disorganised person that I am, I've often found myself feeling like I am drowning. Overwhelmed and out of control. And that all the stuff I love doing, the stuff that makes me-me, gets stuck right down the bottom of the list.

So this morning, when I stepped back into my house after the first drop off of the day, and I contemplated the mess that needed sorting out and the list of housey chores that needed attending to, I decided to make myself a what makes me happy to-do list.

On that list I wrote things that I love doing, but that aren't exactly priorities. My happy stuff. The stuff that makes me feel passionate and inspires me.

I'm hoping that having this list will keep me more focused and motivated and on task. If I hang and fold all the laundry, then maybe I can do something for a little while that I love, like crochet a coaster or plant out some of the basil.

Like make a new type of bread or sew a dress.

Like thin out the lettuces or sew some bunting.

Like soaking and blocking my just cast off cardigan.

Like taking photos and writing a blog...

And you know what? It might seem small but for now I feel like writing that list has made all the difference to my day. I feel like the shoulds will be more doable if there are some loves in amongst them.

Oh after a bit of contemplation, I just deleted all the games off my phone too. I reckon I could have crocheted an entire blanket in the time I've been wasting lately.

OK here I go, off to tackle the kitchen with my rewards well in sight.

I hope you have the most fabulous weekend.

But before you go, I'd love to know a few of the things that would make it onto your what makes me happy to-do list.

Bye! xx

end week.

It's the weekend. Hoorayyyyyy!!!!

Farmer Bren has gone to pick up the girls from school and I'm sitting here dreaming about all that I want to do this weekend and all that I don't. I feel like we are in desperate need of some slow time in this family. Some together time, some quiet time, some time to catch up.

Maybe I'll get a bit of crochet done. A stripe or two of the granny blanket or a fourth ears beanie for my farmer boy who looked at his girls all wearing them the other day and suggested that he just might like one too.

I might even get a chance to write up the pattern for those of you who have been asking.

We'll probably make some more pesto because it seems to be disappearing on toast and pasta as quickly as I've been making it.

Hopefully this weekend will involve a fair bit of hanging out here.

Maybe a dress will come of this pile this weekend.

A new dress would be nice don't you think?

Do you have piles of projects dotted about the house like I do?

I might get a chance to read the new Peppermint magazine over a cuppa.
Oh look there's our caravan!

If the weather is sunny we might get a chance to fill up and plant out some new kitchen garden beds. We need more space and these parts from the old apple sorting machine look perfect.

I know the girls are desperate to come home and keep colouring their babushka colouring books. Manda made them. Aren't they divine! I must say I'm a bit excited that Manda included a colouring book for me in the parcel too so I don't have to share.

Ms Manda is going to be selling them soon so be sure to keep an eye on her blog for the details.

And I'm really looking forward to slowing down and noticing the details, to movie night tonight, to doing the farm chores, to preserving the apples and to having Bren's folks up for lunch.

Maybe it'll all happen, maybe it wont, it really doesn't matter to me as long as we can slow it all down and be together.

What have you got planned?
Are you heading into a wild, exciting weekend or a calm and relaxing one?
Whatever you have planned, I hope it's wonderful.

See ya. xx

3 dresses I sewed..

So the girls went back to school and I finally pulled most of my clothes out of the caravan. The holidays are over.

And with that realisation came the realisation that I can no longer wear the clothes I wore on the road trip. Strange but true. I guess when you wear the same few things over and over and over and over, there comes a time when you cannot wear them anymore. A bit like the end of pregnancy.

So I decided to get busy and create a few dresses.

I love wearing dresses. They are easy. If it is warm, I wear them as is with sandals. If it is cool, I wear them with a little cardi over the top and leggings underneath. And if it is cold, I wear them with a cardi, a scarf and some boots. Easy peasy.

The old sheet dress.

This one is the prototype.
I'm not mad on that sheet design so I wasn't all that precious about getting it right straight away.
I found a picture I liked in a Japanese sewing book. (I'll fill in the details when I can find it).
I found a dress of mine that fits me well.
And I made a pattern.
And I made the dress.
And my farmer boy thinks it makes me look preggers.
But it is super comfy and great for wearing around the farm.

The old curtain dress.

This dress was made from an old hydrangea printed curtain. The fabric is quite stiff and holds it's shape well.
This front of this dress was made from the same pattern piece as The old sheet dress (above), but with the addition of darts for shaping and a longer seam down the front.
The back of the dress was cut taking about an inch off both sides.
All the shaping means that my farmer boy thinks it does not make me look preggers. Yay!
When I finished this dress and tried it on, I wrote on the twitter that I was thrilled that I had nailed my dress pattern.
I love it.

The old table cloth dress.

I made this dress out of an table cloth I'd been saving for a special occasion.
I really love that print.
This time I experimented with sewing the pockets on straight after cutting it out. After the shaping they became a bit crooked. Lesson learnt.
This time the neckline didn't really work. It's too high and the bias binding puckered. Facing?
But it's a great around the farm dress and a scarf hides all the problems perfectly.

And I like the red pockets. I think they're fun.

So now I have three new dresses. Hooray!!!!
Combined, they cost me about five or six dollars, that's including the binding.
And the best part is that I had everything here already. So that kinda justifies my floral fabric collecting addiction.

I think I'm ready for a new pattern now.
Hemming those three dresses can wait.
I'm thinking wrap around, maybe some crochet lace details.....

So that's me.
How about you?
Are you tired of your wardrobe?
Are you making something new to wear?
Are you making anything?
Do you love pockets as much as I do?

Happy weekend. xx

Yellow.

I am obsessing over the colour yellow at the moment.

It's so strange. Usually I am a bluey, greeny, grey-y kinda girl. Usually I barely notice the warmer side of the spectrum. Usually yellow is just that bit too close to awful orange and has me averting my eyes.

But at the moment I love yellow.

Give me lemon, gold, blond, daffodil, mustard, canary, straw or honey.

I think I must be sunshine deficient or something.

Whatever the weather, I am desperately trying to convince my farmer boy we need a yellow wall somewhere in the house and maybe, just maybe a yellow quilt or cushion.

How about you?
Are you loving the lemon?
Or are you hovering somewhere else on the colour wheel?

Bye! xx