all kinds of woolly wonderful...

On Sunday, which felt like it might have been the coldest day in my living memory, I darned in the ends of Miss Pepper's hottie cover.

Yesterday the high and the low in temperature were just one and a half degrees apart and the high lasted less than an hour before it began dropping from 3 back down to one and a half again. Yesterday we ventured outside to gather and feed for less than an hour and my fingers ached with cold so badly I feared I'd done permanent damage.

This morning Miss Pepper is home with a tummy ache snuggled up with her granny hottie on the couch and I am feeling like it was finished just in time. She says it's helping too.

At the Sheep and Wool Show I bought these three hanks of wool. 280 grams a piece.

The darkest one on the right was hand dyed with indigo and alkamet eco dyes. The one in the middle was hand dyed with indigo and tumeric eco dyes. And I might just dye the natural one myself with something from around here, beetroot or eucalyptus leaves I think.

I bought these buttons. I always buy wooden buttons when I see them.

I bought almost a kilo of this divine black sheep wool off farmer Sue French whose sheep grew it.

We chatted to Sue for ages about black sheep, about the fact that her wool is processed in Australia from start to finish and about shearers and wool co-ops.

I bought a kilo thinking I would finally knit my farmer boy that jumper he's been asking me for.

But then we found a lady selling old Tractor Jumpers made in Australia from Australian sheep's wool, so we bought two of them instead.

We were both quite excited by these two purchases, I don't know if there is even such a thing any more as Australian made knitwear made from Australian sheep. We felt like we'd discovered a real treasure. They look so great on my boy too, but that's beside the point.

I've been wanting to try an ergonomic crochet hook for ages now, so I bought the Clover one. But honestly, I'm not sure it feels any better in my hand than my good old metal one.

And I bought a bag of 50 eco-dyed, pre-knitted squares for $15. The stall holder lady was selling them off cheap because her business had changed direction. I have no idea why I bought them off her. Maybe because they were so crazy cheap, maybe because I love the thought of a blanket in those colours, or maybe because I still owe Miss Indi a blanket for her bed and this seems like a doable before the end of this winter plan. I know it's kinda cheating, but crocheting them together and then around them is still crafting...

And lastly, I bought a bag of these. For playing with and laying out and designing and admiring. And when we're finished, I think I'll string them into a garland. Love a bit of felt ball action.

So there you have it, that's me woolly sorted for a while. Or until I dream up a project in neon...

So what are you making, baking, growing, or writing?
I bet it's wonderful.

Bye for now

xx

In Albany...still.

We are still in Albany. Still caravanless. 

Frankie Blue has graduated onto her second mechanic who is working through another list of possible problems. Apparently it's looking like she has a bent axle issue. Poor girl. We miss her so.

So we've been making the most of our time in this little sea side town. Pretending that we meant to spent two weeks here. Trying to make peace with the fact that all our road tripping friends are now living in South Australian time. Trying not to think about the fact that we have to be home in three weeks. And trying to ignore the teensy little thoughts and suggestions that are creeping into our minds and conversations, that we pop the caravan on a truck and drive home. Please no.

We are staying in a little cabin in a caravan park. It's about the same length as Frankie Blue and double the width. We have doors that close, our own bathroom and a kitchenette. And there's a tiny TV. We haven't watched any TV for five months and this little one only shows programs about murders and operations and infomercials so we're not watching it either. We did watch a dvd called Ramona and Beezus the other night and I cried. 

Of course I've been crocheting up a storm. Everywhere we go I trail little woolly tails behind me. Round and around and around and then into a square. Over and over and over and over.  Darning in the ends a bit as I go. Its such great therapy.

I think I only have two more squares to go before I start sewing them together. What fun!

I borrowed an iron from reception here the other day to steam the all the squares flat. The receptionists looked at me funny. I guess I don't really look like the kind of girl who irons her clothes. I didn't correct them though. And now I wonder if they watch my girlies running past the office to the playground and wonder about their creased sundresses and their unruly hair.

We've been to normal markets and farmers' markets and cafes and delis and shops. We've bought delicious local asparagus, cheese, feta, honey, bread, lettuce, avocado, cherries, strawberries, raspberries, rocket, lemons and coriander from the producers and eaten like queens and a king.

And for the very first time in their lives, we had a pizza delivered one night. Our girls were so excited they made up a song.

Oh and I've been op shopping and further developed my little obsession with Johnson ceramics.

And so I guess this is just another part of our story.

At home our farmer boys have started pulling up our garlic and the school kids are preparing to finish the year. There's most certainly a festive feeling in the air.

In Albany we are reading and making masks and blogging and finger knitting and obsessing over instagram and doing the chores and drawing and colouring in and playing and hoping and crossing our fingers and toes that we will be back on the road with our Frankie Blue before too long. That we will leave this chapter behind us and get on with the adventures...

So how are you?
Are you having a wonderful weekend?
I hope you are.
Is anything exciting happening in your world?
I wonder.
Thanks so much for listening to my ramble.

Happy travels my friends. xx

Miss Ruby Red.

Credits.

Model: made by me and the Farmer Boy.

Red cardigan: knitted by me, raveled here.

Buttons: vintage wooden from a garage sale.

Outfit: models own.

Hair: deloused, washed and brushed by Foxs Locks. (Does that sound like one of those tacky hairdresser names?)

Make up: mostly rubbed off on long car journey from home, still a bit of lippy on I think.

Tree: found somewhere in Melbourne, next to a playground, on the way to a wedding.

Crew: big sister watching from a nearby swing, small sister asleep in the car, Dad watching small sister and playing with his phone.

Photographer, director and all round bossy boots: who do ya reckon.

Sewing & selling & shopping.

I was walking through the most gorgeous shop the other day when all of a sudden those familiar thoughts started talking to me. They were saying things like: Hey I could sell my stuff here. My little dresses would look so great hanging up on these racks. How wonderful would it feel to see my clothes as part of this stunning collection...

But pretty soon after it started, it stopped. I don't have to have that conversation in my head anymore. Now I have my own shop.

And I love having my own online shop.

I love that I get to make whatever I want, how I want, whenever I want, as the inspiration drives me.

I love that the customer pays the price I think is right rather than double that.

I love that I 'know' so many of the little princesses my dresses are going to live with and I love the interactions and stories and feedback and photos I get from their Mamas/Grandmothers/friends who buy them.

Blog posts like Vic's and Catherine's make my day!

I love that I have my own paypal account with my own money in it. As anyone who runs their own business knows, often you don't actually get paid a wage for the work you do. So I feel happy and guilt free spending a little bit here and there on some craft supplies. Some yummy hand dyed yarn, a knitting pattern, a Foxs Lane stamp or a book, I've earned them myself. Yay!

So I guess this is just an enormous thank you to everyone who has bought something from my shop, has commented on something I've made, has been supportive, has suggested something or sent me something that they thought I could use.

Thank you Vicki for the parcel of doilies.

Must be off now. Indi gets home from camp in an hour and I still have to make her bed and make her favourite dinner.

So do you buy online? Do you have your own little shop? How's it going?

Bye for now. X

Finishing...

This week's creative space finds me starting and finishing lots of little projects rather than completing my long term project, my grey cardi.

Its the strangest thing, I only have five rows of ribbing to knit on the left sleeve and then I can cast off and wear the grey cardi I've been so excited about for so long, but something is stopping me.

I can only compare it to finishing a book that you have been reading for ages and have loved. A book where you know the characters so well you almost feel like they are your friends. You feel comfortable in the story and can slip in and out of it whenever you please. When you are in the middle of a book like this you look forward to finishing it and seeing how it ends, but when you only have a few pages to go you start to wonder about the next book. Will you enjoy it as much? Will you ever get to know the new characters as well? Will it take you long to get right into it? Will it feel as comfortable and part of your life as the old book did?

Once I cast off my old friend the grey cardi I'll have to choose a new project. I'll have to make sure I have the right coloured yarn and enough of it, I'll have to knit up gauge squares until I get one right and then I'll have to learn a new stitch sequence. It'll take a while before I can pull it out at school pick up time and knit a couple of rows without really thinking about what I am doing.

And so I have been putting off the final five rows and crocheting squares and triangles,

I have been knitting a tiny green beanie for a chef friend about to have a baby(Ravelled here), a bunch of rainbow carrots (Ravelled here) and a hooded scarf.

So do you think I'm a bit cuckoo or can you relate? Do you have a long term project that you would feel a bit lost without? A project that is comforting in its comfortableness? A paper pieced hexagon quilt that you pick up like an old friend, a crocheted granny rug that you know the pattern of so well, or a book that you only have a few pages left to read but must start another to delay the inevitable.

I wonder...

Today, along with the gazillion Thursday things to do, I plan to make a final decision on the buttons for the grey cardi and then knit five rows of ribbing, cast it off, block it, sew on the buttons, darn in the ends and wear it. Its freeeeeeeeeezing and a grey cardi would look great over the dress I'm wearing.

I hope your Thursday is a creative one.

See ya. XX

The Fancy Flower Dress.

Good morning!

What's going on in your world today?

Its been pretty warm for the past few days so the boys have been starting work at 8am. We've been taking them morning tea after the school drop off and they are dusty and hot after slashing and ploughing and mowing for a few hours.

There's only a few weeks left of school for the year but my girls have been spending many days at home. They are tired and need some time out and me and Pepper are glad for the company. It also means I can get a bit of sewing done and I have a bigger sized model on hand. Its win win really.

This is The Fancy Flower Dress.

I think Cath sent me that embroidered bit of flower a while back and its been sitting above my sewing machine begging to be sewn onto something. Not just anything mind you. It had to stand out and be made a fuss of. Featured. Framed. Now it is.

Its in my shop.

I'm off to make cupcakes with the girlies.

I hope your day is ace!

A couple-a thank you's.

Thank you Lou Lou for the wonderful button/magnet/ring package you sent me. I love it all and so do my girls.

Thank you Abby for the Lunch Punch cutters. We just love punching our sandwiches, play dough, cookies and anything else that is flat and sitting on the kitchen bench for long enough.

Thank you Wendy for the most divine pin cushion I have ever seen. Love, love, love, love it. It is gorgeous and pretty but most of all it is huge enough not to get lost under the crap that resides on my sewing table. Thank you also for the pile of pretty pockets. I look forward to sewing them onto my everything but the thread creations and watching them work a bit of their Wendy magic. I am so thrilled to have a little bit of your gorgeous style in my house with me.

Thank you to Kate for the link to the Turkish bread recipe. I have one word for you, YUM!! Actually I have two more MAKE THIS!!

Thank you to Tamara for letting me use the little blurb on the top of my comment form.

And lastly but firstly and hugely, thank you to my wonderful Farmer Boy for taking these pics of my girlies and I on our way to the wedding on Sunday afternoon. They might not look like anything special to you but they are the only photos of all four of us wearing clothes that I sewed. Yep, I was pretty proud that day.

Actually I've got one more. Thank you dear reader for inspiring me, encouraging me, putting up with me, leaving comments for me, reading along with me and traveling along this wonderful and wild journey with me.

Have a fantabulous Tuesday. XX

Guest blogger.

I'm guest blogging over at Sparkle Power today.

Have you ever written a guest blog post?

To be honest, I found it quite a challenge.

When I write on my own blog, I assume the people who are going to read it already know a bit about me. I'm talking about you. You know that I adore being a mother but that sometimes it drives me insane, you know that I would rather sew than do housework, you know that a lot of the time I am happy but that sometimes I struggle and that most of the time I make it up as I go along.

But Candace lives in another country. Her readers have never heard about Daylesford Organics or Foxs Lane. What ever I wrote in my guest blog post is all they know about me.

On one hand it really doesn't matter.

But on the other hand I want my blogutation to be truthful. I wanted to portray an honest picture of what motherhood means to me.

All in one post.

So click on over to Candace's blog if you like and see what you think.

The mini tree dress and fancy undy bundies pictured are a present for a baby born a week ago. A baby I had no idea about because my phone had died and I didn't receive the text.

Thanks heaps Andi for leaving that comment and letting me know.

I have since put my sim card in Bren's ancient Nokia until my replacement iphone arrives.

The dress and bloomers were made from vintage sheets and I screen printed the tree back here, I used op shopped bias binding and button and crocheted ric rac.

I hope you have the greatest weekend.

If part of your weekend involves Mothers' Day, I hope it is fabulous.

We are postponing Mothers' Day until next month. In June it will be quieter here on the farm and I will be able to have a whole weekend dedicated to the celebration of me. Yay! I can hardly wait!

Kitchen table creations.

Its all happening at the kitchen table this morning.

I know I said I would sew fabric bunting to decorate the farm shed shop, but I really wanted to see what crocheted flags would look like.

I know, I know, I have a crochet addiction and will make up any excuse to get hooking. But seriously, with three kidlets desperate for my attention, having my back to the world on the sewing machine is out of the question at the moment. So I figure I'll make up a set of these and when the girls go back to school and I have more time, I'll sew up some fabric ones.

Bren just came in and said he's not mad on these ones anyway.

I also crocheted the last buttons on and sewed in the ends of this jug cover this morning.

Indi is weaving a pot holder.

She told me that one day soon when all mine go up on the wall, hers will too.

Indi is interspersing her weaving effort with a bit of coiling.

Jazzy is cutting hearts.

And Pepper is cutting shapes out of play dough.

She's also wearing undies for the first time this morning which has been the cause for much celebration.

I hope your Monday is a funday!

Rosy cozy & milk jug covers.

On Friday I crocheted a Rosy Cosy tea cozy.

To be honest I found it quite challenging. The pattern is easy enough to follow, but made up of many stitches and stitch sequences that I had never attempted before; like decreasing over 6 stitches and single crocheting backwards (crabbing) and the fptb (front post treble).

I found myself pulling it apart over and over and at times asking my very talkative and inquisitive children to only talk if they absolutely had something urgent to say.

I am really happy with the end result, but it has made me question the level of crochet I thought I was capable of.

After a bit of a tidy up the other day I found my copy of Vintage Crochet by Susan Cropper.

After seeing so many milk jug covers in blog land like those stunning ones Melanie M* has been crocheting, I knew it was only a matter of time before I made a few myself. And let me tell you they are as lovely to work as they are to look at.

Its been a great opportunity to sort through the jars of buttons I've collected just in case.

And for my helpers to make stacks and patterns of their own.

My next project is to make some bunting to decorate our farm shed shop. I had thought to crochet the little flags, but realistically, I think fabric might wear better.

The bunting above has been hanging outside for over a year and the grape vine has started to use it as a trellis.

I hope you are having a lovely Sunday where ever you are.