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your tunes, please...

I love my ipod.
Scratches and all.
Lately its been getting a bit of a workout while I've been busy putting together a large order of paper and wallpaper packs for a new store, "Behind the Monkey" in Highgate, WA.

Top ten at the moment ( in no particular order)....

Please, Mr Please - The Scud Mountain Boys
Another lonely day- Ben Harper and Pearl Jam
High and Dry- Radiohead
I've seen it all- Bjork and Thom Yorke
The Woman by the well- Sarah Blasko
Kite- U2
Looking in - Club Hoy
Moon on the Rain- Fairground Attraction
Wuthering Heights- Kate Bush ( such a treat to hear me sing along to this one, I can assure you!)
Relapse- Little Birdy

After making at least a zillion packs, I really need a few new tunes to freshen up the mix. Otherwise, I will have to resort to listening to Rose and Charlie's groove number playlist. This list not only includes a good dose of Abba , Bucks Fizz and Hi-5 but ends on a high note  with Jefferson Starship's "We built this City".....
Please, I need your help.
All tunes gratefully accepted from any genre and any decade.
Thank you!

leaving the terrible twos...

no more tantrums, tempers or throwing of toys...right?
My small pork chop( as she is often affectionately called) is three today.
Strong willed with a big belly laugh and the most heartbreaking lisp I've ever heard. Everybody says she sounds like a little chipmunk and she knows all the tricks to snap you out of a dark mood. Especially when the reason you might be feeling a little cross has something to do with her!
" Be happy, mama!!" Charlie will demand in a big voice, arms crossed and foot stamping.( No cajoling from Charlie, oh no.)
She then marches up to you and tries to push your "frowny" face into a happier looking one."No crosth faceths, justh sthmileths! Thaths much better."

She has a little trouble with 'L's" as well which is rather unfortunate when your name is Charlotte. "My name is Stharwotte" she tells people "and thith ith my thister Wosthe".

Rose helped me decorate the cake ...it's, ah, colourful isn't it! I'll be sure to make one a little less...colourful for our fairy disco party( small and intimate! No 30 children this weekend!) on Sunday.The girls enjoyed it though with all those Smarties to pick off!

Happy Birthday, Charlotte! My wonderful, challenging girl!

pom pom or not to pom pom....

Just about finished this hat from Oneskein.....

I only had three attempts at it before I finally hit the jackpot. As I was using a substitute yarn , it took a little while to get the gauge right. Even though my swatch seemed quite correct I realised about 8 rows in that hat no.1 was going to be about the right size for an elephant.
Two needle sizes down and after finishing the first pattern repeat I could see that something was not quite right with hat no.2 - obviously I had made an error reading the chart so back to the start again.
Cast on and find once more after the first pattern repeat  of hat no. 3 ,that once more, there is a problem somewhere. I was certain I hadn't made a mistake but all of the cables were out, even though skinny rib section looked fine.
Then the penny dropped - I have worked from a graph several times before with no problems- start at the right hand side and read back and forth just as you would knit. However this hat is knit in the round and so I should have been starting each row from the right hand side of the chart.
Perhaps this is just common knowledge but it is something I have never come across before ( having said that I have never knit in the round from a graph before). It makes perfect sense now that I have almost finished hat no.4 of course( I know now the pattern repeat by heart). However for the slightly confused knitters like me, a small reminder at the top of the chart would have saved me a lot of grief!
Now I just have to decide whether to add the pom pom or not. The hat is not shaped at all but simply seamed straight across and then the two corners stitched together to give it a bit of shape.
I think that I will have another go at this hat but this time add some shaping to the crown to make it a bit neater and less bulky.
Because summer is on its way and I really do need a thick woolen hat for those 30 degree plus days....

a present for everyone....

Just in case you were wondering what any child does with 30 or so presents.....

Well, Rose and I discussed the issue of presents when we decided to have the whole class. We talked about parties being more for celebrating and having fun with your friends than all about getting presents.
I felt that so many presents would be overwhelming and very unnecessary. In the end this is what we decided to do...inside each invite we put this little note.

A present for everyone...
Rose is saving up to buy a goat,
three ducks and some training for a pig!
You might like to help out with
a small donation in a birthday card
instead of a present.
You can have a look at the  'Farmer's Pack here....
http://www.oxfamunwrapped.com.au/ChooseAGift.php
( and please don't worry, Rose will have lots
of presents to open on her birthday!)

All of the parents and children seemed to think this a good idea. With their amazing generosity we are now  able to buy not only the 'Farmers pack" but some blankets and school books as well for children who need them.
Now, Rose is like any other 6 year old kid....she loves presents! And she was a little bit sad at first about the idea of nobody bringing a present. However after we talked about it a bit more and had a look at the Oxfam website ,she was happy to forgo the presents.
This may have been in part due to this: I didn't want her to feel like she was missing out in anyway- after all it was her birthday!  I promised her that if she decided to go the 'no present' option ,I would take her off to the toystore and let her choose any toy she liked ( within reason of course). I would buy this as a "token" present from everyone who came to the party.
"Even another Bratz doll?" she asked.
"Yes,even another Bratz doll", I agreed. (After all what difference would one more small baby Bratz make, I thought)
Today another of the big headed girls moved in with us.

Silly mama....didn't you know that they make giant Baby Bratz dolls as well???

Damian is away tonight , so as a treat Rose and Jade ( yes the big headed doll has a name) are having a sleepover in my bed. Here they are waiting for me to come to bed.

Remember that movie about the Chuckie doll??
I do.
And I'm not too sure how soundly I'll be sleeping tonight!

a lot of children....

Some days I think that two children are a lot of children.
Today I had 30 or so in my back yard for Rose's Jungle Treasure party.Usually I keep it to 6-8 children but decided this year decided that we might as well just ask the whole class, since they're such a nice bunch of kids. Add a few close family friends and a neighbourhood child or two and bingo! Party time!!

I kept the decorations simple..this is the jungle that you walked through to get to the back garden. A bit of raffia, plenty of ballons and a host of paper bag monkeys.The boys all had a great time pretending the paper bag monkeys were punching bags! (There is one just above Rose's head ...so easy to make and such fun. The kids loved them...and all mine seemed to have mysteriously disappeared...)

I finally had an excuse to make a few of the Martha Stewart pom poms - loved making these and they looked so beautiful. Not really jungle but I couldn't resist a bit of bright colour to hang in the trees.

Jungle treasure party cake- made a simple icecream cake and borrowed a few jungle animals from the toybox. I was busy trying to make little tree things from fondant icing, toothpicks and a lot of hope when I suddenly had the bright idea of using real bits and pieces from the garden stuck into marshmallows.

Note to self: check freezer space vs. size of cake board before you start assembling the cake. I had to do a bit last minute  juggling with frozen meat and soups. If you have ever had a family- size frozen chicken leap out of the freezer and hit you squarely on the hip bone, you too will appreciate the sense in paying attention to this bit of detail.

I decided to follow Jo's lead and go for quality rather than quantity when it came to the party bags. I put in Rose's favourites- a packet of smarties, a lolly pop and a Fredo frog. Each child also went home with one of my favourites - a succulent in a small pot. Easy to look after, needs hardly any water and loves the sun. I always loved when new little 'baby' buds grew and I could break them off, stick them in some dirt and watch them grow as well. Maybe it will inspire any of the budding horticulturists  in the class!

By all accounts a big success.
No tears.
No blood or broken bones.

Rose said it was the best party ever in all her life.
And guess what- I enjoyed it too!

in her lunchbox today....

Rose would have found this....

A little surprise for the birthday girl.

Happy birthday, Rose.
May your day be full of sparkles, smiles and all the sweet things that a 6 year old could want!
Tomorrow, the jungle treasure birthday party takes place ...I'm off to bake a few hundred cupcakes.

(The gingerbread men went off to school today to help celebrate the big day with her friends.I just couldn't do the cupcake thing  two days in a row....)

a big blank canvas....

The school fair is fast approaching and I am doing my bit by helping to paint small canvases for the art stall. The local art store kindly donated a heap of small and medium sized ones for us to paint...with three of us at work we have ended up with a good mix of styles and images.

Here are a few of my small ones in progress.These are fun and not too creatively stressful!
Unlike the monster I found myself loading into the boot of my car at the end of a very enjoyable evening of painting, talking and a little wine. You would think that I would be safe after just one glass- but no! "sure,why not, I can think of something to do with this enormous canvas."
So, the next morning I woke up to find myself staring at a big white and very blank surface...what to do? Well, if you're me and you have loads of old paper at your fingertips ( yes, on both counts) then you do what I do best. You get a lot of gel medium and a very big brush and you start pasting.When you stop you should have something that looks a lot like this

Still enormous but not quite so daunting.

treasured things...

I love jewelery especially in silver.
Kirsten over at assemblage had a particularly beautiful collection which she regularly shares on her blog (sadly she lives a little to far away for me to pop over and ogle the the pieces in real life!) So inspired by her friday favourites I decided to show off a little bit of my bling....

brooch by Yuji Kono
silver and a stone I can't remember the name of!
Each of the tiny stones are threaded on pins that move freely about - such a wonderful fluid feel to it.
I bought this at an exhibition of Yuji's work last year at the  Books Kinokuniya gallery....I thought I was only in danger of buying too many Japanese craft books but when I saw this brooch it called out to me. Loudly.
My birthday was fast approaching and what better present to buy myself than this little wonder. It makes me think of sea anemones  or some alien plant form...

a bit proud of myself...

I finished Rose's cardigan.
Let me say it again.
I finished Rose's cardigan.
And I finished it before it was three sizes too small for her.
So I'm a little bit chuffed.
Now I can understand that all of those dedicated knitters out there who start garments, knit garments and finish garments will not find it such an amazing event.
However, anyone who knits garments the way I do- that is a front ,a sleeve and half a back before losing interest and starting a new project- will appreciate the enormity of this occasion.
There is still just enough winter left for her to get a bit of wear out of it and then she can wear it again next year. I suspect that the sleeves will be a little short next year, despite the fact that I knitted them to the length measurements for a ten year old. Rose has very long arms that seem to get longer by the month. Along with her feet! I am not the least bit bothered as it is considered very chic in Parisian circles to show a little bit of wrist bone. If need be, we will move to Paris just so that Rose can wear her cardigan and still feel fashionable.
Charlotte is wearing her newly finished hat ...I am rather happy with it but don't feel the need to jump up and down about it.
After all, I've finished hats before.
But not a cardigan.
See the cardigan. Now I'm a bit proud of that.

pattern notes:
cardigan from 'Rowan Junior' ISBN 0-9540949-5-6 , Design 17 'Rose'( see it was meant to be) knitted in Jo Sharp DK wool, can't remember the colour names but let's go with royal blue and light blue!
hat- made up the pattern, knitted in 'rose garden' raindrops wool

And those bows... made of course by the lovely Tamara...