School Holidays

We have been on our third term holidays recently and I thought I might get lots of knitting done. Maybe a sleep in or two. How wrong could I be?
In reality we have had some beautiful weather and even better - children who are cooperative and can play together.
So what have we done?
We visited friends, did some shopping, and played and played and played...

Yes, my playing was with the camera. But there also been plenty of puzzles, running, chalk drawing, painting and hiding by me as well.

Spring dress

Ok so I have not done so great at posting regularly.
But I have a good reason, really, I do...
I have been knitting like a mad thing to finish a dress for BigMiss-100m tall....

 Why did I decide to make her a dress? Because she loves her other one I knit for her. She wears it all the time.

People have suggested how fantastic it must be because I can knit for the BigMiss and  the LittleMiss will get to wear them too.This is because lots of wear = a knitters dream I think. Yet BigMiss does not give up her knits.The cardigan which only just fit her last year and is really stretched on her now is still not able to be given to the LittleMiss (who it would fit perfectly). And given that she wears her existing dress on any day deemed to cold for a summer dress by Mum, it is unlikely to ever be handed down.

So really having two girls close together does not help because it really means you need to knit twice the amount at almost the same size. LittleMiss has requested a dress like this one now. I have enough yarn left and obviously the pattern but I lack the will right now.

So I will just bask in the joy BigMiss feels wearing it.

Don't you just want to jump and twirl too?


 Oriental Lily by Tikki designs available for purchase on Ravelry here

A knit for me

I am trying again. A knit for me. Not socks, a hat or scarf - a sweater. Sleeveless because we are heading into summer. (and because it is quicker, but we won't dwell too much on that...)
So I scoured the patterns on ravelry found a couple and shortilisted them in my queue then got MrToffle to pick which one to attempt.
I measured and found I could fit into a smaller size than my head told me. And anyone know what this means? Less yardage required! Fewer skeins, same budget...
You see where I am going?
So I ordered some beautiful yarn from the loopy ewe and yes, I even got MrToffle to help with colour selection because it can be kind of overwhelming with so many shades of  the same colour available.
It came in skeins so I have been busily winding it into balls using my makeshift swift and nostepinne.

Doesn't it look great? 

And I have already started swatching, something I never do. EVER.

But this time, I want it right. So I have started with a flat swatch and I love it. The yarn is so soft! I noticed when I was winding it into the ball but knitted it is devine. The only issue is, not quite the right gauge. For someone who never swatches this is the interesting bit...I need to do another with different needles. How many times will this happen? What do I do with all these little squares when I am done? Will all this work mean I will finish the top? I think I want to know more than anyone else.

Just in case any of you are wondering, I have started another sweater for me. It has some beautiful cables on it. It has stalled at the top of the front side. (knit bottom up in the round) I am tossing up whether to ever do the sleeves or adapt it to sleeveless. Because who am I kidding? I started in January 2011 and stopped working on it...oh, around the time the friend I was knitting along with finished hers. Maybe July of 2011. It sits in a box in my loungeroom glaring and laughing at me. I would provide a photo but that just gives it more power...

Anyway onto new and hopefully completable things!

Clip holder

Recently a very lovely lady has been offering up some clip holders in some of the karma threads over in the Australian karma swappers group on ravelry.
Hers are beautifully made on her new whizz bang embroidery machine. (yep, totally jealous) Cupcakes, butterflies, skulls (they appeal to some..) all embroidered on felt and totally desirable. So I wanted one.

But truth be told I have a few issues participating in the swaps.
1) I do not have a big enough stash of yarns I am happy to swap- "no I need that" is my first thought when trying to come up with a yarn to offer
2) I usually offer the same thing...a bag.

(and though this is a parcel I sent to someone at one stage, the photo is not mine and I use it everywhere cause really, wouldn't you?)
Which is great, but I am concerned that people will get sick of them which leads me to offer other random things that may or may not be desired and thus..

3) I will get stuck holding up the thread offering something no-one wants with nothing to use to bail me out.

And so to stop the anxiety involved, I have created my own.
Without an embroidery machine I decided to use a totally cute fabric appliqué from a fat quater mum had just bought. I backed it with felt and attached a ribbon for the clips to attach to.
I then decided that it needed a bit more structure so I added a layer of "strengthening" and another layer of felt to the back.
And then I added a flower applique from the same fabric to the bottom of the ribbon.
Totally happy with the result and so are the girls.

New placemats

Big Miss and MrToffle have been home sick and we have mostly quarantined ourselves in the house this week.
Our one outing was taking the kids to mum's house so they could do more of what they were doing here - sitting on the couch watching tv. Changing the venue for a couple of hours made an amazing change to our ability to co-exist.
I was able to look at some recent acquisitions to the fabric stash at Mum's. There were a number of cushion covers from a display house donated to a friend of a friend that have ended up with us. Although I have two cushions on the couch these cases were far bigger than my tiny cushions and I immediately thought they would look great on my dining table...
And look! They do...

For those who are interested, the cushion covers were the size of 2 placemats with an invisible zip down the longest edge.
 I cut the zip off, (still need to figure out what to do with all the beige invisible zips) cut the cushion in half and overlocked the long side shut. I then turned the remaining side edges in and topstitched right around it.
I have also stitched along two of the stripes on the fabric hoping for less bagging when I wash them.
I have no idea how they will go. I intend to throw them in the machine and most likely the dryer (in winter) so I do not know if they will last long. But really, the price was right and we have already used them a couple of times this week. Either the fabric repels food and stains or I have not given the kids as messy food because they do not need a wash yet.
But for now, they make me smile.
That is enough.

Welcome Back

Here I am. It has been a while. But now that there is a new camera in the house which apparently is so whizz bang all the photos will look fantastic regardless of the content, I have decided to resume blogging. We shall see how it goes.
Have to figure out how to do everything again first..
Deep breath.
OK.
So here are the best things I have made. And this is what they are always like! Imagine this in the shopping centres, walking in the streets and imagine how I feel quite a bit of the time...

These pics were taken on a recent trip to their Grandad's property. Can you see the coats we are wearing? It is winter, and on a large property like this there are plenty of areas for water to pool....

And so I am the mum, "Be careful in the water..." "Don't splash too much..." "It is cold - don't get too wet..."
But of course we all knew the outcome.

The girls were equally sopping and got really cold on the 300m walk back to the house. But I think they loved it. And luckily we were prepared with changes of clothes for everyone...
The joys of being a mum.