wool, wool, more wool & a pattern.

I guess a big part of the fun of any hobby, craft, passion or profession is putting together your kit. Researching, hunting down exactly what you want, building your stash and then maintaining it all so it is there for you any time you want or need it.

Like a cook and her ingredients, a musician and her instruments, a hunter and her knives, a runner and her shoes...like a knitter and her needles, patterns, buttons and wool.

As a knitter my idea of heaven is being able to knit whatever I am inspired to knit and having exactly what I need at hand to knit it. That means lots of needles of different sizes and lengths, wool in colours that we like to wear and enough metreage for anything from a hat right through to a women's cardigan.

I cannot believe it's been over a week and I still haven't shown you the delicious yarns I bought at the Australian Sheep and Wool show.

I loved every second of the shopping. The sheds full of stalls of colours, textures, and all sorts of wools. The different brands I'd heard of but never fondled. And the ideas and inspiration and loveliness. I found the most gorgeous 8ply merino wool at Yellow Cat (the grey and the blue above) and the Craft Circle (the green).

I bought all the wooden buttons I could find at the button stall. Gosh I adore wooden buttons. Now I just have to find the perfect patterns to show them off.

I bought Wooli, the recycled wool above, off some lovely women with a crafty shop in Brunswick street.

It's made in New Zealand using all the scraps off the factory floor; wool, alpaca, silk, cashmere, possum. It's deliciously soft and Indi has already claimed it for a loose knit cowl.

I also bought a few cheap one kilo bags of Pear Tree yarn. Gorgeous colours and just so terribly soft. But they are in their plastic bags and I don't want to take them out until it's time to cast on. And shiny plastic doesn't photograph all that well does it.

And lastly, we bought a couple of skeins of the most divine chunky sofTrope hand spun for farmer boy's beanies. 

My farmer boy wears a beanie every single day and is very particular about what he likes and what he doesn't. He spent a while choosing the colours, chatting with the spinner and then describing the pattern to me.

When we got home, I wound the first skein into a ball immediately. Then I found the largest circular needles I own (6.5) and casted on 64 stitches (the tram we used to catch from our childhood home into the city).

Then I knit, knit, knitted for a few hours and it was done. Speedy!! Gosh I love the chunky stuff.

In case you'd like to make your own Farmer Boy Beanie...

Cast on 64 stitches.
Join in the round.
Knit 2, purl 2 rib for about 20cm.

Decrease rounds.
1) Knit 2, purl 2 together. (48)
2) Knit 2, purl 1. (48)
3) Knit 2 together, purl 1. (32)
4) Knit 1, purl 1. (32)
5) Knit 2 together. (16)
6) Knit around. (16)
7) Knit 2 together. (8)
8) Thread the tail through all of the remaining 8 stitches.
Pull tight. Fasten off.
Darn in ends.

And please let me know if you make one, I'd love to see.

He loves it. He has barely taken it off since I cast off.

So that's me and my treasures.

I hope you are having a lovely weekend.
Are you?
Do you have anything exciting planned?
What are you making/baking/growing/going/reading?
Have you added to your stash lately?
Do you agree that the stash building can be just as much fun as the craft itself?

Bye! x

ps. I'm on The Country Style blog!!
eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep!!!!!

Loving...

The Rainbow Eden Dress!

I love this wool! I love how the colours bleed into each other.

I love this pattern! So perfect to show off the fancy colours.

And I love how soft merino wool is.

Raveled here.

I love that Jazzy loved her new Rainbow Dress so much, she was happy to brave the icy wind for a photo shoot.

I love that none of us has gotten dressed today. Lazy daysies.

I love, love, love the puppies. Puppy love - I totally get the full meaning of that term now. They are all huddled up together asleep right now in a bundle after a day spent feeding voraciously.

I loved scripting, casting, rehearsing, shooting and editing The Friendship Movie this morning.

I love the way Indi is moving into the spare room and the touches she is putting on it to claim it as her own.

I am not loving the sore pimple on my chin.

I love having my farmer boy at home with us all day long.

I love that the girls are all working together as I type this to make a batch of chocolate balls. Oh my goodness the mess!!

I love that her sticker chart is making Jazzy behave like an angel.

I love coffee and salad with haloumi and salty pop corn and summer fruit.

I love it that the girls are working through a book of fairy tales. The little girls take turns choosing and Indi reads them one each night before bed.

I love that there are no plans, no time-tables, just slooooooooooow summer days.

What's going on at yours?

What are you loving??

See ya later alligator

XX

Naughty girls.

Good morning!

How are you?

I'm good. I'm enjoying the first slow day of the summer holidays. We've got nowhere to go and no schedule to keep. So far the only thing reminding me that time is passing is the requests for more toast and more toast.

Indi and Jazzy are doing illustrating lessons on the computer, Pepper, Bren, Pierre, Liam and his kids are in the shed processing garlic and I am sorting photos and stirring my strawberry jam pot.

You guys were so wonderful and helpful with the title question I asked you the other day, so I thought you might help me with something else.

How do you deal with other people's kids when they misbehave on your watch????

The other day I took a whole lot of kids to the playground. They played for a while and then they noticed a young guy cleaning up the place. He was collecting rubbish and tidying up. They kept playing and watching him and giggling and I kept knitting. All of a sudden they erupted into laughter. I looked up to see one of the girls tipping a bag of our lunch rubbish all over the ground. There were food scraps and tinsel and bits of wrapping paper and confetti and glitter that we'd been careful to collect. It was a real mess.

I was horrified. I apologised to the man and asked him if he could get the girls to help him clean it up. He said no and that he'd seen worse and that it was his job and that he'd do it.

I turned to the girl who had done it and had no idea how to deal with her. She is not my kid. I gave her a bag and told her to get the big bits. I told her she had behaved badly and wrongly and disrespectfully. I told her that one day it might be her cleaning for her job and how would she feel if someone did that to her. I probably went on about it too long and then when I got them in the car to take them home I went on about it some more. To be honest I had no idea what to say or do though and I'm pretty sure that I made no impact on her.

So how do you discipline other people's kids? Is it my responsibility to teach them right from wrong? What would you do in that situation?

The photos are of the Rainbow Eden's Eve I am knitting. Oh how I love this wool. I wanna eat it. I am staying up waaaaaaaaaay too late watching each colour blend into the next. Love!

Oh and for those who asked, I bought the wool off a woman who was having a destash, she had bought it off a destash a while back and I have no idea where it came from before that.

Have a fabulous Tuesday y'all. XX