applehead

almost a cat...

I bought this book more than a year ago and worked diligently until I had finished all bar one leg. And the poor thing has languished in the bottom of the workbox ever since. I just couldn't face doing any more of this blanket last night (especially as the lovely Alex over  moonstitches thinks that the stitch pattern I have chosen actually does tend to develop a bit of a lean...I knew I should have asked for advice before I ripped back two thirds of a finished blanket! You live,you learn I guess!)
So here finally is Amineko, admittedly still in many pieces, but at least complete in that all of his body parts are done. I'm hoping that I'll summon up enough energy to stuff and sew him together tonight.
I'm not even sure who he will end up with ( I suspect Charlotte, who has been a little cross about the number of things that I have been making for the baby.And then of course Rose will wonder what I might be be making next for her.....)

Incidentally if you want to make one of these cuties,just click here  for the link to the authors website. She has very kindly posted the pattern in both Japanese and English.
Sort of wish I had known that before I had finished grappling with the charts and instructions in Japanese.....

perfect match...

You would have thought that the lovely Tamara had enough on her plate fashioning beautiful bows..however, out of the blue, a parcel turned up on my front doorstep containing this piece of loveliness for the baby in progress...

Tamara chose the colour scheme especially to match the crochet blanket, (draped over the top),  that I am making. (I forgot to take a picture of the back but it in a chocolate brown spot fabric). Such a thoughtful and generous gift - really makes me appreciate the amazing friends I have made via this blog.
(As to her suggestion that if I didn't really like it, I could maybe use it as a playmat or something .....I'm thinking  not!)

By the way the blanket was progressing beautifully- I say was, because once I had reached about the two thirds point, I realised that it had taken on a distinct lean to one side. More of a parallelogram than a rectangle. Don't know what I did, or why I didn't notice it earlier but after a few days of looking at it, I decided to rip it all back to the first five rows . Which I did. So now I am working away at it again, hopefully to end up with a non- leaning blanket!

Thank you, Tamara, for your gift...it will be will used and treasured ( and no doubt dribbled on and covered in baby love!) Oh and happy one year blog anniversary ( Tamara's having a celebratory giveaway so drop by and say hello!)

a good start....

on the blanket for the baby made with this lovely cotton.

Although I have quite a few other tasks that have higher priority on my to-do list, I couldn't resist trying out a few rows to see how it looks. And then of course just a few rows more....
I was initially inspired by this beautiful striped blanket and after numerous swatches,decided to go with alternating blocks of off white and coloured stripes. The stitch I have used is called 'Catherine Wheel 1" from "The Ultimate Sourcebook of Knitting and Crochet Stitches -The Harmony Guides (ISBN 1-85585-990-4 ,published by Collins & Brown).

Now the challenge is to finish it in the (hopefully) 10-12 weeks I have left before the baby arrives...after I have ticked off a few of the other more pressing tasks, naturally.....

bears and blankets....

After doing the boring but very necessary chores ( like reorganizing the plastics cupboard...yawn) I finished a tiny knitted bear for the baby, made using the pattern found in this magazine and organic baby alpaca (in dark brown and light brown fox) bought online at EcoYarns.  The red scarf was crocheted using left over silk and merino from this hat.  He's only a very small bear ,standing about 15cm high- the perfect size for a newborn.

(colours from top left clockwise: azul,orchid,espresso,drift,thistle,honeydew)

After much deliberation I finally chose and ordered some colours to make a crocheted cot blanket....Blue Sky organic cotton found here.
It arrived just a few days after I hit the 'buy now' button -I'll  most definitely order from fabulous yarn again- really fabulous service indeed!
Still haven't quite decided how it's going to look- if I find time tonight,I might make up a few swatches.Really, there are other things I should be doing first( sort through the bathroom cupboard- another yawn) but the texture and the colours of this cotton is very, very tempting.....

Oh and I'm glad I didn't crop off my head in the belly photo from my last post- so many compliments on how glowing I'm looking ,that I actually began to feel a little less tired and heavy and a bit more earth goddess! Thank you!
Just what I needed - next time I need a little pick me up ,I'll know just where to find the little boost I'm after. Never say no to a pretty compliment, I say, especially when you feel like you're carrying a tonne of bricks around strapped to your belly!

chicken love.....

Look what turned up from the generous Ute in Zurich, with a bundle of Marie Claire Idees, chocolate, buttons, ribbons and sweets.....

Chicken eggwarmers! Ute's great aunt, Mamie Jeanne ( who lived to be 99!) taught her how to make them. Mamie Jeanne knitted hers- Ute has adapted the pattern and crocheted them instead. Ute suggested that if you didn't fancy boiled eggs, that they could be used as a finger puppet instead. The girls loved them both with and without egss! With Ute's permission I am planning to try and make a few for stocking stuffers - thanks Ute and of course Mamie Jeanne!

chicken love.....

Look what turned up from the generous Ute in Zurich, with a bundle of Marie Claire Idees, chocolate, buttons, ribbons and sweets.....

Chicken eggwarmers! Ute's great aunt, Mamie Jeanne ( who lived to be 99!) taught her how to make them. Mamie Jeanne knitted hers- Ute has adapted the pattern and crocheted them instead. Ute suggested that if you didn't fancy boiled eggs, that they could be used as a finger puppet instead. The girls loved them both with and without egss! With Ute's permission I am planning to try and make a few for stocking stuffers - thanks Ute and of course Mamie Jeanne!

bula.....

...Charlotte's favourite word at the moment, after a week or so on Castaway Island, Fiji.
Lots of swimming, sandcastle building and shell collecting- and the weather was just perfect.
I have never been much of a one for snorkeling but decided (with a little encouraging from Damian) to give it a try. Amazing. I could have floated out there for hours- I only wish that I could have worked out a way to take my drawing stuff along for the swim!
In the middle of the day, when it was just too hot to be out in the sun, we found other things to occupy ourselves. Reading, making shell necklaces or just lazing around doing nothing. Nice.
One day we did a bit of weaving with banana palm fronds to make a 'mat' to put in the fairy house that the girls built.

Of course no holiday would be complete without a holiday craft project. I really wanted to make a start on a small crochet bag for Charlotte for Christmas,so I took along a hook and a few balls of some Nepalese banana silk that Maggie had bought for me last year in New Zealand. I had been looking for some way to use it -the yarn has a lovely dry feel and lustre and a bag seemed like a good choice.
Until I started that is....
I found the banana silk quite difficult to work with due to its very uneven texture. Admittedly I used a fairly small hook ( 3.50mm) as I wanted the fabric to be firm enough to hold its shape - perhaps with a bigger hook the fiber might have been easy to work with. Anyway, I persevered and was quite happy with the result- I just need to line it and sew on the small flower.

The plan was to make another for Rose in green and white but now I'm not so sure...perhaps I will try the same pattern in a cotton yarn instead. (Any hints, tips or suggestions for working with banana silk are most welcome- I still have a skein of lovely bright green to use up......)

New York, New York....

A  bit of Autumn colour - leaf on a pond up at the Japanese Gardens, Terrey Hills.

This little chap is on his way to a child in New York City...hope he has a safe journey to his new owner....

(Details:Jo Sharp DK wool, various colours.Pattern- made it up as I went along as you might be able to tell from his slightly lop sided feet...)

failed no-fail meringues

I was so taken with Miss Marzie's beautiful pink meringues that I decided to whip up a batch myself.....after all the recipe said that they were easy to make...and I love a no fail recipe.
Yes, well.....

Instead of a plate of heavenly pink piles of goodness,I ended up with a plate of cute pink buttons.
I don't think it helped that I was cooking dinner for the girls while talking on the phone and mixing the meringues.
And I don't think that the fact that I forgot to add the 4 tablespoons of boiling water until halfway through whipping them up ,helped either.
Oh, and I was a little impatient with the whipping up bit and decided it look stiff and glossy enough. When I heaped the little mounds on the tray and then watched them flatten into pink puddles , I decided to scrape it all back into the bowl and keep on beating the mixture. Probably didn't help much either.It did in fact get stiffer and glossier but still refused to sit in little mounds.
I baked them anyway and really, they  tasted great!
Next time, I need to concentrate!
At least Miss Marzie can feel safe about her Queen of the Meringues title.

Did anyone pick up the hidden random fact about myself in yesterdays 'tagged" post? I have a pack of postcards for the first person who can work it out. I will give you the answer tomorrow if nobody beats me to it!

well that was quick...2 minutes after this post to be exact!

How about that,Bianca must be a U2 fan as well...a pack of postcards is on its way to you!

Rose's hat

a simple green picot edge and a small flower equals one finished hat!
Rose's sweet head was at school but Charlie kindly offered to model it for me ( it only took a few jellybeans...)

Only now she thinks it's her hat so I might just have to make another....