Socks!

I got some sock yarn to dye for Bendigo and decided I had better make myself a pair of socks. These really are my first pair of socks and I did them top down, two at a time.

I'd dyed them a nice red/raspberry colour and the yarn was a pleasure to work with.
The make up is - 60%Super Merino/15%Nylon/15%Bamboo/10%Silk. It's super soft and although I had reservations about how the socks would wear at first I am actually enjoying them.

The pattern was nothing complicated an Ann Budd pattern (here on Ravelry) from one of Ann's books that Mum gave me for Christmas.
Very happy, must get back to making some more socks.

Getting crafty for school

School put out a call for squares to make blankets for "Wrap with Love".
I'm not a square knitter - in fact I still have three quarters of one sitting here, unfinished, so I decided I'd crochet some.
Then I decided that I needed to make enough for an entire blanket so that the crochet squares went together.

Thankfully Mum gave me a hand making some of the plain blue and green ones you can see.
It looks very green one end/blue the other but in real life it blended a little more in the middle.
Still, we got it done and only a few days late, which is ok because the deadline was extended anyway.

Next year I'm just going to volunteer to put them together - with Bendigo in the middle it was too much trying to make the 28 ten inch squares needed for one blanket.

Little Miss was very happy that we got to send a completed blanket in.

Hyperbolic crochet coral reef

Part of the hyperbolic crochet coral reef was on display in the shed my stall was in at Bendigo.
It was awesome from a distance and I'm sure my husband would like something this decorating the middle of our dining table (only because he's really into fish keeping at the moment), but I'm not sure I have the time or patience to make it, even though they assure me it's easy.

Some parts look easy, some look like they'd be quite fussy!
I love Nemo in the middle of it.
Maybe one day I'll make a mini one for him. Or if LittleMiss or LittleMister need a project maybe they can help.

Sew much sewing, so few pictures

I sewed many many bags to take to the Bendigo Sheep Show this year. I think I had almost 40, or something close to that.
Of course I didn't photograph most of them (ok, I didn't photograph any of them) before I left.
I was so over sewing them I was glad to be finished.
Here are some photos of them on the table at Bendigo.


I had a few left on the final day but not too many.
They are a great size for sock knitters and a pattern I came up with so that I just use two fat quarters to make them.

My very own lolly shop

All that white yarn back here became this....

More Cow Pants

After making the first pair of cow pants an idea kept floating round in my head and I couldn't let it go, so I now present to you.......
..... the new improved Cow Pants!

oh yes it is.... cow fur! (fake of course)
Mr Almost Four was impressed.
And the pocket detail? it says Moo Moo Moo Moo all the way round. :o)
Two pockets for the ipods, as per the request.

He was even happy to model them and wore them to preschool!
He loves dogs too - so he was wearing his Cow Pants with his 'Who let the dogs out 1' shirt (he's got two and his naming system is very regimented.)

He can be cute when he wants to be.
The back side version.
This is his normal face. It's also the 'no more photos' face.




I like this face better.

Kandinsky Art

One weekend I dragged out the water colours and the art paper and we got down to doing some artwork.
I'd seen this blog post and it inspired me.




Once we'd done the circles we looked up Kandisky and Little Miss became inspired to add other things to her artwork.
Little Miss loved it
and she sat there for a couple of hours concentrating and painting
we really enjoyed ourselves.

The Butterfly Costume

Little Miss's school has a themed dinner dance every year. This was our first year (being that she changed schools at the beginning of the year) so we weren't quite too sure what to expect.

The theme was 'Up in the Air'. So many things to choose from. We went through a great big list.
Finally we settled on a butterfly.

The wings were sewn to the back of the top and she could slip her hands out of the wrist strips if she needed to.
It was a simple costume but I didn't know what to expect.
(I do now! There were 700 girls attended the dinner dance - from both the senior and junior schools and boy did they come dressed! There were blue people from Avatar, bees, angels, electrical storms and even the cow who jumped over the moon. There were bats, fruit bats, rainbows, witches and plenty of super girls. The quality and depth of the costumes was mind blowing... so yes, Little Miss's costume was a little plain in comparison. Next year... well next year we'll be going all out, hope it's a good theme.)






Anyway - the wings. I made a pattern after hunting down some butterfly wings on the internet.
I ended up sewing two pieces of material together to make for each wing and attached them to the shirt down the back and to the shoulders. I made wrist loops so she could take her hands out if she needed them.
She also wore knee high black boots.

so, lesson learnt, don't do anything at school by halves!

What I see...

A great big pile of work.... all this white yarn waiting to be dyed for The Bendigo Wool Show.
It's cashmere, cashmere/silk, merino/silk, sock yarn, wool/bamboo/silk/nylon sock yarn and a few other things in there....
.... some of you might see a pile of white yumminess - me I see coloured fingers coming. (I do wear gloves, it just seems to get through.)

Again?????

Little Mister Almost Four was happy to model the first pair of pants, but the second, well it was *much* harder to get him to stand still and I'm surprised you can't see his bottom lip down near his knees.
I used some black cord this time. Mum bought it when she was up visiting and left it (it's not that I don't have my own mountain of material, just hers was the easiest as it was sitting there!)
The comment here was 'mooooorrrrree?' when I said I wanted a couple more photos.
and this was the only shot I could get as he walked away from me.