Unusual Finish

Crazy day that was yesterday with the painting had me finishing that today.

A quick trip to town to add a bit of paint as I wasn't going to quite make it with what I had left.

Third coat on the ceiling & third on the walls had that much complete.  Then it was on to moving the washing machine to do the little patch behind.  Of course, that meant a batch of cleaning too.  Lovely how it looks behind those things - NOT!

See what a pretty colour it was?  That was the colour of the whole room & the ceiling was too!  Really bad.  Anyway, it's really bright now.  Bright, white & clean.

 Instead of watching paint dry I did manage to get the last heel in this pair of socks.  Another of the Cascade Heritage Paints yarns from work.  These will be a Christmas gift I think.  

Socks #10 - 2017

Crazy What Rain Will Do

Yes!  Another weekend of rain.

It gets to the point when you don't really know what else to do inside.  I could easily spend all my time knitting or sewing or playing games.

I needed to do a little more today.  The other day I cleaned up the laundry & sorted & threw stuff out.  I had in mind that I wanted to sort it out & make it a little more usable other than a dumping ground for stuff.

So it got cleared out this morning & well, I started painting.  I had 2 little helpers briefly too.  They were so eager to help for a bit.  They were handy for doing some edges.

I just want to freshen the room up.  At least the orangey walls & ceiling are gone.  A few improvements with little money is what I am will try.  Just using what we have & that sort of thing.

Taking Stock - July

Making :  knitted socks of course!
Cooking :  home made muesli slice was a hit.
Drinking :  coffee to keep warm.
Reading:  some books that I can read & move out of the house.  Current one is Friday Night's by Joanna Trollope.  50c at the library a while back.  Ok, quit reading this one.  Moved on to "Girl on the Train".
Trawling: different sock patterns
Wanting:  the transition back to school after the holidays to go well.
Looking: at photos of my gorgeous new nephew.
Deciding:  what to make for pre-prepared lunches...  ugh...
Wishing: for a massage.
Enjoying:  Snowballs from Anvers chocolate factory.
Waiting:  for a weekend that isn't raining.
Liking:  winding skeins of yarn into cakes.
Loving: the school holidays.
Listening:  Zac Brown Band
Considering:  how to reduce plastics.
Buying: less.
Watching: Nashville from the start of season 1 again.  
Marvelling:  at the ok start to the school term.
Needing: to sit in the sun.
Questioning: my sanity doing all I did at work the other day.  Need a massage now.  
Smelling:  coffee
Wearing:  lots of hand knits.
Bookmarking: recipes for homemade muesli bars.  
Disliking:  the pesky rooster that has virtually moved in.
Opening:  Lots of boxes of new wool at work!

Circles

I tried something new in the socks.  

July challenge on a knitting page was "Stash Dive".  So yes, I can do that.  Why not!  Find some yarn I have had for a long time & use it.  Yes, I can definitely do that.  

I pulled out this Patons Stretch Sock yarn that I have had for probably about 10 years.  I didn't look to figure out how long exactly.  But long enough.  So now I have a new pair of Circle socks!  Really pleased with them actually.  I thought they were going to be too tight but I adjusted the heel to give it a little more room & it worked perfectly.   

I didn't do the heel on the pattern but went with an afterthought heel like I usually do.  I did start the one on  the pattern but didn't like it.  I also did these from the cuff down which I haven't tried for a long time.  I don't like that either.  Turns out that the circles could have been done toe up too as the pattern for those wouldn't make any difference.  

Socks # 9  - 2017

Wet Weather Craft

It pays to buy things when you see them.  

A while back I saw these Shrinky Dinks online.  

We had lots of fun colouring them in.  Yes, me too.  I wasn't missing out!!!  

They were fun to colour & the boys did some fun colouring patterns.  I was impressed with DJ & the time he took colouring in so well.  

A couple of minutes in the oven & they all shrink!

To about a quarter of their original size.

The pack included the pipe cleaners for the legs & a couple of key chains too.  The boys have their key chains on their school bags already.  I have to find something to attach mine to my keyring still.  They aren't having all the fun that is for sure!

Sunshine

Finally the holidays brought us a day of sunshine.  Both the boys are well & we managed to escape for a bit of a drive about towns to some fun shops & then a good play at the park with some lunch in the sun.

New Slippers

BJ needed new slippers.

Back to the mukluk pattern from last year.  It is oddly enough, about a year since I started some of these as he got his first pair while he was in hospital.

He picked the colours for these out of my stash.  He wanted orange again, but we added a colour with it.

Hopefully they last him longer than most of his other pairs have done!  I really don't know how he does it!

Forgot This...

I have finally taken a picture of this.  It's a cowl I did the other week before I finished that blanket. I've worn it a bit but still hadn't taken pictures.  It's an unusual design in that it's really basic to knit, but twists itself onto the bias so sits really fun & collapses around your neck making a warm & cosy piece with a different appearance when using variegated yarn.  

It's called Wolkig & is a free pattern on Ravelry so check it out!  

At Last...

My baby blanket for my new nephew is complete.  It's just a Basketweave design which is good as it gives it lots of texture so looks a little thicker maybe than it really is.  I'm pleased with it, but will not be knitting with bulky yarn again any time soon.  It's hard work.  I'd rather knit a sock any day!  lol

I got the last row & cast off finished this morning & sewed in all the ends while I had some friends over for a holiday catch up. It's a great way to not think about sewing the ends in.

Thursday Thanks

• A 6 year old.
• An enjoyable party for the 6 year old & his friends.
• The fun I get from doing the party!  lol  
• Getting through the last week of school.
• Boys that are better again.
• A boy who got an award at school for "Respect".  Can't ask for better than that.  

692/1000

He's 6!!!

It was a VERY early start as I am sure most can imagine.  I did have to get him back to bed at 3am, 3.30 & 4.  Not sure if he wasn't already feeling a bit off at this point.  

School day for him though.  The first time he had his birthday on a school day.  

Also his first party with school friends.  So he was very excited.  

If you remember from my preparations the other week I was working on Pokemon things for it.  Well the theme continued. 

Pokeball lanterns.  White lanterns that we coloured in.  Used these instead of balloons.  (I am really starting to hate balloons.)  

 

Pikachu fruit boxes.  Free printable on line.  

There are a lot of cool ideas on Pinterest so I made some food labels.   

Parties these days need fruit.  So a Pokeball it is.  Handy serving dish from the cheap shop for $2.

We coloured in 24 table tennis balls & Stuart hid them in the back yard.  They had a good time running around finding them all.

I had prepared a pile of Pokemon eggs.  Found this idea on Pinterest too of course.  What a perfect thing for 5 & 6 year olds.  I even labeled an egg carton specially.

They spent ages doing this.  So lucky it was warmish.  Sun was shining so we could do it outside at least.  Each egg had one of those little plastic Pokemon instead.  So they were excited to do this.

Lots of food, & then some cake.  At this point I could see DJ was crashing out.  His eyes were glazing & he wasn't his usual crazy loud fun self.

A Pokemon cake & some Diglett Dirt cakes.  Children don't eat cake really.  So I tried the little chocolate coconut slice.  Most of them were demolished.  Only a couple weren't I noticed but the worms in the top of the dirt had gone.

The children left & the grandparents came for tea.  DJ had zoned out completely by this point.  We had obligatory cake pics with him & sang to him & then we enjoyed his birthday tea of sausages, mashed potato & gravy while he went to bed with a temp.  Poor kid.  Had a day home today feeling miserable.  Oh well, these things happen.  He still enjoyed it & was very spoilt.