My Creative Space

My rainbow ripples are growing nicely. I am really enjoying this blanket a lot. I love watching the rainbows grow & looking all bright & pretty. There are about 30 rows now. I wonder if I can be bothered to do about another 120! I am thinking it will be nice for BJ's bed when he is in his big bed. We'll see though. I am pleased for the ever growing blanket warmth on these last few nights when it grew very cold again.

For more creativity out there in blogland click here.

Cargo Bag?

These poor old cargo pants of mine had seen better days. (ekkk... & needed a good iron by the look of them!) My favourite (& only ever!) pair of Esprit pants had a horrible oily stain on them that wasn't moving. So well, you can't really give them to an op shop can you, when they have a mark on them?

Nope, you find inspiration on the world wide waster of time & you make something out of them!



What do you think? I did have it all cut out before today so that helped me along today when suddenly I decided I needed to sew it together. I had to hunt down the tutorial I was following though over at Noodlehead, though hunt is hardly what you can call it when it was the first choice in a google search! It went quite well though once I worked out what was what. It isn't perfect by any means as pants are a funny shape & it changes where the pockets are situated on the pant. Also I didn't measure any of the rest of it exactly so it is really quite rough! But hey, I thought it was pretty good all things considered. All except for the size! It's really not big enough at the moment for a hand bag for me! But oh well, I can use it later on... (or find bigger pants!)

I did get in some happy dancing tonight when I went to turn it all the right way through with all fingers crossed in the hope that it was all assembled in the right direction & the strap was right etc etc etc.... Woohoo! It was! Phew... & I remembered to add a magnetic clasp before I sewed it all up at each stage! Another phew!

I used fabric I had in my stash. It is called Kids Stuff which is all I can read on what is left of a selvedge.. It was part of a small collection of boy fabric for something for BJ eventually but all he is left with is the cars or trucks or whatever is on the other pieces still in the box somewhere. Oh well, I thought the stripe & dots was pretty nice with the cargo pant colour which is umm... not really a colour I don't think!

I also made use of both the pockets from on the pants. The one on the front flap has the extra little pocket on it. The other pocket I used on the inside of the bag as you can see below. (it ended up in the right place & up the right way & all! Woohoo!)

So that was my afternoon & evening. Time for a bit of hooky on a row of the rainbows. That is cruising along & looking all pretty & rainbowy! Another update on that soon!

Double bonus for Monday!

Something to start your week off

It May Be Footy Finals but...

... you still have to do your drawing & colouring first thing on a Saturday morning.

It Is Finally Spring

Today has been the most terrific day! In all ways. I got to sleep in for one thing! Stuart has an RDO today so it was very lazy for a Monday. We did get a little gardening done on top of yesterdays efforts. We also went for a walk to get the mail. We ended up playing in the playground for an hour with a BJ that was kicking & screaming not wanting to leave. The weather is just perfect today. I don't want it to get hotter though. Like this would be just lovely for the rest of summer. Just nice enough to not roast or melt outside! lol

Anyway, this is a little update pic on my rainbow! Fourteen rows of pretty rainbow colour! I love it. I did say I was going to get another two colours to add to it. I did get them but didn't add them. It wasn't going to work for me adding more. If I added another shade of pink or green I would have needed another shade of blue too. & so the problem began on where to find the balance. I decided I had the right balance with the 7 colours. It's good. I think so anyhow.

I also got the tape out to measure it. It's 150cm wide. Wow! So there you go, in case you want to do one too, it is 255 stitches using 8ply Magnum brand acrylic & a 4.5 hook. Should be nice & snuggly eventually. Hopefully the evenings don't warm up too quickly though once it starts getting bigger! The weather isn't going to ever suit a person is it! hahahaha...

Now these pics I just have to add cos they are great. Ok, the photography isn't so great but the story they tell is.

BJ & Juneau spend a lot of time together outside. Juneau gets fed up at times with the kid & will keep away if she is over it but they are also good buddies. We still have a supply of apples in the shed. BJ likes an apple. He doesn't much like the peel though. So he bites it off & gives it to Juneau. They were out here on the step yesterday for over half an hour with this apple. Juneau ended up with half of it in the end & BJ wanted another one. No idea what happened to that one, but no doubt Juneau ate that later on too. I think Juneau is missing the supply of apples falling from the tree more than BJ is. Hahaha... I just noticed on the first one that Juneau is poking her tongue out! That was sneaky. Probably sick of me taking pictures of them & getting caught out sharing that apple again!

Have a great week!

I'm Going To Crochet A Tree

As you do. Crochet trees that is. Why not? I have green yarn & I have buttons. I really need to use some! So I will. I will join in the CAL (crochetalong) just for the heck of it. Looks like fun. I haven't looked at the tree pattern yet though so I hope it's easy enough. Want to play along too? Just visit Crafting with Cat Hair! (I could have been the crafting with dog hair blog!)

Vegies At Last

Ok, not vegies quite yet, but the seeds are planted. We haven't had much luck so far getting the seeds in the ground plus it is probably too wet still. So I have cheated this afternoon & planted the seeds in egg cartons. BJ helped so I have no idea how many silverbeet plants are going to be in each egg space. lol But at last something is planted & might get a chance to grow if they don't get eaten. I really can't wait until we have some crops to pick again. It seems an age since we were harvesting anything & I'm sick of buying it all. I have been using the seeds from the Lost Seed. They seem to be very good. Plus there are hundreds in a packet! They will last & last. Anyone want to do a seed swap? lol They have an expiry of 2012 so they will last next season as well at least. But really there are so many they must go to waste which is a pity! Hopefully we will get a couple of plantings in over the summer too though of some of our veg.

Enjoy your weekend wherever you maybe.

My Creative Space

I have been working on copying the pattern for the pjs for everyone out of the Heather Ross Weekend Sewing, while I have it from the library. It's a lovely book & there are so many things to inspire. I just need a couple of pants patterns for the toddler now so might try this pjs & the Huck Finn pants in the book.

Have got a couple more rows done of the Rainbow Ripple. Amazing what you can hook while playing Thomas trains with the little one! It's really just a matter of sitting with him & not quite so much of the playing. So play time becomes quite efficient. lol

For more spiffy spaces see here!

Rainbow Ripples

Oh isn't my basket of rainbow just so pretty! Ok, I admit it myself, I am loving it. It's pretty, pretty, pretty. I'm not usually one to say how nice my stuff is, but I am loving these colours & these ripples.

I am quite enjoying this bit of hooky. It's become easier. I can now determine where I am by looking at the previous row but I am still using a stitch marker along my row to do a quick row check every few ripples or so. It really doesn't take more time as sometimes you just need to give your hands a stretch anyway. I am going along quite well & can usually do 2 rows in an evening. Sunday night while watching my fav ABC show I managed 3.5 rows. I don't like putting it down in the middle of a row really, but these rows are so long that if I did finish that .5 row the other night I would have still been up another half hour.

I only have 7 colours at the moment & will take it to the store to see if there are maybe another 2 to add to it. I am glad I decided to stick with the acrylic. BJ has been dragging the Dottie blanket all around the house lately, so it makes me pleased with my choice for this one as well for now. I can imagine it will get the same treatment later on. I don't mind. I am making them to be used. One day when he is big I can splash out on some wool & make some nice woolly blankets then. In the meantime these will stand the test of a rambunctious kid. They are also warm as anything so as a blanket to snuggle under acrylic certainly will do the job.

I am really excited too about the rainbow at the moment as BJ is really into rainbows. He says rainbow so cutely! Yep, cutely! I just love hearing it over & over again. So my rainbow ripple blanket will mark that moment in time. It couldn't be more perfect in so many ways.

Dorothy Day

Well BJ had his big sleep & that meant this morning it was time to go to see Dorothy. It took a little while to warm up to his first concert though. It was too loud already before the show even started. Luckily it was only going to last an hour! He got better as soon as he started to take photos himself. He likes to take pics.

Anyway he was happy by the end & finally sat on his chair. lol So his first concert was nearly a success!

It Had To Happen!

I caved last night & started the ripple blanket of Lucy's. It took some time to work that bit you see. Like I expected, the chain & first row were difficult. ( & took 2 hours I think!) I was trying to help myself out a bit with stitch markers on the chain as I went. I needed 255 stitches on my chain. I thought I had that of course. Well on the first row it turned out I didn't so I had to fudge the end to fit the stitches I needed. I have already learnt to check the rows a bit as I go. I am doing some, going back & looking & adding a stitch marker so I know where I have checked up too. I did the first row of blue & had to undo a bit as it didn't work out so of course I learnt that way. It isn't going to be quite the no-thinking project I was hoping for but it is going to look nice I hope, when it is done! It will take awhile. With long rows, it will feel like it is taking a long time.

I did laugh reading this quote in the book Back on Blossom Street the other day.

"Why do people who love to knit complain about knitting a row

with 1200 stitches & not about knitting 20 rows with 60 stitches?"

-Candace Eisner Strick, author of Sweaters from a New England Village,

Beyond Wool & Knit One, Stripe Too

I thought this quote quite valid after hooking for 40 minutes on one row. It means progress will seem really slow to me for sure. But I am not the only one that thinks that way obviously!

Crafty Dilemma Continues

Yesterday I had a little play on another practice piece of the ripple pattern. Ok, it's easy to manage I think. Except for that rotten first row! Grrr. & If I make it big, how am I ever going to be able to keep track of the number of chain stitches. That is the bit that has put me off for so long. I did go & get 4 colours of acrylics to do the blanket with though. So that was enthusiastic of me. I also stopped by the second hand kids shop while I was near it (it's over the road from the wool shop!) & found BJ a cash register. He loves playing shops. He spends a lot of time in mums shop to know what the people do when they come in. The hand money over the counter & take something home. So Grandma or myself spend a bit of time there at the shop counter playing shops. When I turned up there with his own little cash register he was rather rapt. It continued for quite some time at home & then again when daddy got home. It makes beeping noises & all. It didn't have the plastic credit card with it that you swipe through but he has one of my old drivers licences which he plays with & that makes a good pretend credit card. It's very clever. Anyway, I am a bit sidetracked...

I forgot one of the things I want to do on my list yesterday. It is really calling me! It's crazy how many hexagons I have seen lately. Quilted or crocheted. Not so many in knitting but plenty of the others. They have been following me around for a couple of months now. Just now, on this bright & cheery Saturday morning, while I am being forced to keep quiet & not wake everyone else in the house (after a long night with a terribly angry & cranky child) I have been surfing & clicking on some blog lists of some of my favourite bloggers. (ok spoke to soon - kid started bashing on the wall!) It is amazing once you start clicking away what you will find. This is what I found! A hexagon tutorial. In a few parts. Cool! I don't really need this cos I could find out for real at work. I will do these sometime. I really want to learn how to do these properly. I have lots of scraps of course to make use of it. (A friend & I swap scraps. So I have a bunch of cool scraps to play with as well as all my own bits.)

Anyway, now I have finally got this posted - it all went cranky on me & thank goodness for it autosaving as drafts, I can now go & move about the house freely as the boys are playing shops now! (told you it was a hit!) I already played shops too you know & it's only 9.30am. Time to move on to the mundane tasks of a weekend.

Have a good day in your crafty world or not so crafty world if you too are on the mundane tasks first. I think I need to go to the library to pick up Heather Ross Weekend Sewing, before the weekend is over. Unfortunately I think the local footy is over for the year so I won't get my couple of hours to play anymore while the boys go there! Maybe I can get the interested in local cricket! Ok, I will turn off the drivel button now...

Crafty Dilemma

I've been a bit quiet lately. That's because I am not doing anything! Mojo left! Yep he did. Darn it. I have lots that I want to do though! Like my animal embroidery quilt. But the problem there is that I keep changing my fabrics as I am still not entirely happy with them. I think I have too much choice & that is the problem. I want to start cutting fabric but I am not entirely into it yet, so think I should leave it until I really really want to get stuck into it, for fear of totally stuffing it up & ruining it. Better safe than ruined animals.

I want to make a crochet ripple blanket like Lucy's! I did a sample piece a while back. I am not sure what I want to use for this though. Do I use my stash of acrylics that I have used for lots of other stuff. I love the colours & will need to buy the odd ball here & there as I go but do I use that or some nice wool that I don't own!

Do I work on a few simple things like some grannies squares or hexes or something? I want to do that too but again, what do I use for it if I do.

I need to get a couple of small cross stitch pieces done too. That is limited to nights once BJ is in bed though cos of all the bits I need to drag out for that. I don't want him getting into the needles & stuff that that includes. I use too many needles at a time for that. I had problems with a young puppy once & my pins & needles! Ekkk.... That was an expensive silly puppy moment. Although I don't expect BJ to eat a thread with needle attached, I don't want to be finding needles all over the place either.

I could do some more socks, but during the second one of the plum socks I really lost my mojo with being sick, bad back etc etc, & although I did eventually get it finished I don't think tackling a sock right now will go well without some mojo to visit. Who knows what shape it would end up!

I really want to do some embroidery, like my animals. I really enjoyed doing them. But I don't really have any to do at the moment. Actually I do I suppose, but I am lacking the mojo needed to find some fabric & getting started on them.

I think I am leaning towards a ripple blanket you know! I will have to go & pull the colours of one brand of acrylic I have. I have another brand that is 8 ply too, but quite a bit thinner so I think I will leave it out of this one. I got away with it on the dottie angel blanket in the end & you can't tell if you don't know that it is different. But for the ripple I think I need it the same. So maybe I will need a couple of new colours to start that off. Darn it. We'll see, but I do need something more mobile & easy to pick up. I don't know how mobile a blanket will be once it grows a bit but we'll deal with that if & when it happens!

Well I will see what the day brings. If it is anything like yesterday it will be a quiet day of only cuddling the kid & wiping his nose all day! He really doesn't like anything on his face & hands ever so if his nose is a little runny I have to wipe it fast! Apparently he gets that from me! hahahaha...

Is it going to be sunny on the weekend or more of the wet stuff? We really want to get into the vegie patch! It's going slow out there. That will take priority over the crafty stuff. I got a collection of herbs last week so need to get them planted before they all die on me.

Whatever the weekend brings for you, I hope you have a great one, crafty or other!

Back to Work

After our nice day out yesterday it was back to work today for the crew at Fell Farm. Ok, well really it was only after work that Stuart had to fix our door but of course BJ had to help. He knows how all the tools work. Amazing what kids remember from seeing something once.

Father's Day

Well today is Father's Day in Australia. It partly turned out like I had wanted but that's ok. The weather really hasn't been agreeable lately so we weren't really expecting to manage a picnic. Very wishful thinking on my part.

We had been planning to go to Sheffield for a while as we thought BJ might like the murals. On the way we stopped to check out Devils Gate Dam. After all the rain in the last couple of days we were expecting to see water going over & we weren't disappointed. There was a lot. It was pretty cool to see. Also loud to hear!


Then it was on to the Town of Murals, Sheffield. There are murals all over the town. We went for a walk around the town centre looking for them all. We were right in thinking BJ would like them. You can see the scale of the pictures from this one with BJ & Stuart in front of it. This is one of my favourites. It depicts the inside of Waldheim hut at Cradle Mountain. All the animals look so nice. We just wanted to stand next to the fire in case it was warm as it was still rather cold there.

We had just got home from our outing & we were told about a minature & model train & boat exhibition that was on in town so we went there too. BJ thought it was pretty good especially the Thomas Tank engine set up that was there.

So now it is time to defrost at home & put my feet up! Maybe I will even get my sock finished today!