My very own lolly shop

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

A Valentine's Day Swap

I joined in the Valentine's Day swap over at Australian Swappers on Ravelry.
Red is pretty much my favourite colour, but I am not keen on maroon types of red, which is what my partner liked.

I made a needle wrap, a book mark and got some handmaiden yarn, chockies and a little notebook for her.

I didn't want to use hears on the needle wrap as I felt that might feel a bit 'wimpy' at other times of the year. I found this lovely cake material.
It was a really rich chocolate brown colour with cream cakes and cupcakes all over it. Just what we'd like to be spoiled with on Valentine's Day! I lined the inside with a deep wine red.
As per usual I should have bought enough to make one for myself. :o)

Bag for a Birthday

This year the birthday swap was run a little differently.
One partner whose birthday is close to yours. This should help with the loss of enthusiasm that seems to happen once people have had their birthdays but have to keep supplying presents.

My partner has a baby and wanted a bag that she could use as a project bag/cart daughters stuff around in bag.

Last Christmas Mum gave me a pattern for this multi tasking tote bag. I decided it would probably work well for my partner.

What I didn't realise is that it eats material and is constructed in a slightly obscure way.

I didn't really enjoy making this bag. Not sure I'd make another, maybe I'd use the principle to make something like it.
My partner loves purple and wanted bright vibrant jewel tones.
This was as close as I could get!
I did dye a skein of silk as well but it had a lot of light purple in it and my partner isn't fussed on light purple.
As I already had swap anxiety with the bag I got her a skein of Malabrigo worsted.

That's birthday swapping done for the year.

One Tea Cosy - finally finished, not quite as I imagined

I had big visions for the Group entry of the Tea Cosy competition this year - a lovely garden full of flowers. Well in my mind it was wonderful, we'd all make nice green bases and then some beautiful flowers for on top.
I have the "100 Flowers to Knit & Crochet: A Collection of Beautiful Blooms for Embellishing Garments, Accessories, and More" so I thought it would be a piece of cake.

erhmm. It didn't work out that way. I tried at least 8 of the patterns and they really did not in any way resemble what was in the book.

I threw things across the room and then I put it aside, constantly.

Eventually guilt got the better of me as everyone else would be making a tea cosy and I'd pushed them to do it and not even made my own.

So I ended up finding a very plain flower pattern which seemed to work. Not really knowing how to make it interesting and really just interested in getting it finished I decided to dye it with food colouring....

and so voila!.....

I can't say it's the best thing I've made,
but I can say I am very relieved to have it finished.
Next year I'll keep my bright ideas to myself. :o)
Tea cosies aren't as easy as you think they should be!
And if you're wondering it's a posy of flowers, hence the ribbon.

Nice colour

Some sock yarn I dyed for a swap.
Could have kept this skein. :o)

Fingerless Gloves

I'd like to say "I whipped up these gloves in no time at all" but I don't ever just 'whip things up', well not knitted things anyway.

I used this pattern. Except I wanted to do it in 8ply not 4ply.
This, of course, took several attempts to get started.
But I did and I think I fudged my way through it.


I intentionally knitted them in white so I could dye it once it was knit - most people don't realise you can do this.

How did I get the colour gradient, well there are two colours there to start with. The very ends are the colours I used and basically I dipped the gloves in and held them for different lengths of time in the dye. (The darkest the longest etc) and as I got to the middle I blended the two colours.

What's interesting, and you can't see it here, is how the colours go when you the ribbing stretches. It's a very unique effect, you'd never get it by dyeing the yarn before hand. I quite like like it.

Oh, I did wear the gloves at Bendigo, but I am not really a glove wearer so ended up with them off most of the time.

Another birthday swap

I'm not great at this birthday swap business...
I know they're coming but they always seem to sneak up on me.
I made a reversible drawstring bag this time.
The rest of the parcel was some nice Eki Riva yarn (I'm not a purple person, this definitely didn't come out of my stash!) some purple Kool-Aid, some Tpins and a Knit one coffee cup.

A Simple handspun scarf

I made this scarf very quickly, amazingly quickly as far as I was concerned.
Ok, it's not a huuuuge scarf but the point of it was as an example for blocking when I went to the Bendigo Show.

I knit it on large needles - 10mm from memory, and it is a simple K2tog, YO pattern.

It could do with a good blocking couldn't it?

Pink Swapped

I struggled putting this pink swap together.
Pink was not my partner's favourite colour. She liked deep rose pink and dusty pink. I was a bit stumped with this. It's not this seasons colour that's for sure.

My creative mojo seemed to be on holiday as well.

I panicked for ages over the package, here's what went in.

She likes to knit baby clothes and I couldn't help it with this magazine, the title was pink!
A knitting kit for one of her kids, a couple of little notebooks, some stationery....

A little bag to keep nick naks in, a pink tape measure and some pink stitch markers that I made.

The note books are cute and the panda one has a pen, good if you've got the kids out and nothing for them to do... or to take knitting notes. A little stationery kit that would fit easily into a knitting bag.

And speaking of bags, it seems to be what I ended up with this time - long story, I started a shawl but ummed and ahhhed over it and eventually got the feeling that she might not like it, not to mention that each row was taking longer and longer to get through, there was no way I was going to get it finished on time. So I went back to bags. Even if pink isn't your favourite colour you can always use pink project bags, even if it's to store those work in progress projects.

This one was a sling type bag, one strap and a button closure.


I was hoping the roses were the right rose colour and I'd seen my partner wearing a deep red jumper before and friends said she liked maroon, so I was hoping this one would be just right.

I did find some yarn to fill it with...

... some pink and white Sugar'n'Cream
and some Bendigo Woollen Mills 'Melody' in Dusky Pink.
hmmm.. not sure of the colour, I ordered it from an Internet colour chart.
I know it says pink, but I'd almost call it purple.
Oh, and because I was panicking first of all I ended up buying a bag from Blue Tulip on Etsy.
I had lost my creative mojo and was so worried I'd end up with nothing.
Hers is a bit more professionally finished than mine. To start with it's got a tag ;o)
Here's a drawstring (well draw-ribbon) bag I made - I had plenty of fabric so thought I'd use it.
I think this one might have actually been reversible - for when you feel like a change you can use the other pink side. :o)
hmmm that pile of bags is growing.
And finally I made a simple, two handled, bag. (If it has a style its name escapes me right at this moment.) I didn't line this one.



Another bag - reversible.



And finally a little bag of lollies for the kids.


I know there were lots of bags, but by the end of my 'putting the package together' time I was feeling guilty as I'd shelved the shawl and I had tried to make felted slippers that were HUGE so they got shelved too. I can do sewn bags so I just kept making!
Looking back on it now it's not as bad as I felt then.

I've since taken a bit of a break from such intensive swapping. I was feeling quite burnt out.
I have a few big things on my plate that will pass by the end of July (well a little past the middle really) and I'm looking forward to being able to sit at my sewing machine and doing exactly what I'd like to do. :o)

Getting ready for the Old Bus Depot Markets

Procrastination is just part of my make up, in fact I'm pretty envious of anyone who isn't a procrastinator - I often think people who craft procrastinate more than others. Most of us have huge ideas in our heads that simply never come to fruition, but really half the fun is dreaming it up.

Anyway.... I had this great idea some time last year. I'd make these 'try dyeing' kits and go to the Canberra Woolly Day and to the Bendigo Wool and Sheep show and see if anyone would like them.

Excellent. I started collecting the things I needed and of course, dreaming of all the things I needed to do and wanted to do.

The Canberra Markets are in May. Plenty of time... that is until March rolls around and you realise at you're going overseas for the first week and a half of May.

Hmmmm.... I managed to have a little 'get on with it' moment in January and actually rang asking about a stall at the market. I needed to send photos of my product and presentation.
I hadn't factored that in. I had ideas, just didn't have everything ready to be presented at that point.

Being the good procrastinator that I am I set off with good intentions about getting it all done and then of course, left it until March.

So here are some of the photos I sent. (Not all of them as I took blocking wires as well)

In case you're wondering... they're T-pins

Stitch markers