Quilts and Woolly Blankets.....

There really is something quite comforting about a pile of quilts and blankets.  The organic merino hexie is on its way to its new owner in Adelaide.

One day I'll have a big stash of woolly blankets to call my own.

Just When You Thought......

I bet you were all thinking.....she hasn't done another blanket.  Well I have!!  Still unblocked, hexie with straight edging, and a custom order.

As I type this blanket is on the blocking board.  I was a bit iffy about the border on this one.  Unlike the two other hexie blankets I've done with my invented straight border, here and here.  I decided I didn't want little flecks of colour in the border so I had to be a bit inventive again....In the end I went with a HDC border with a little wavy edging.  Once it's all stretched out, a little relaxed and all soft and drapey I might be a bit happier with it.....but it's bright and colourful and that is the main thing.

I'll pop up some more images when I'm done.

Hope you're all well.

Going To The Show......

Its been many years since I've been to the Royal Melbourne Show.  Originally an agricultural show, but over the years commercialism has taken over and now it's more about the rides and the show bags, and less about the animals, farm produce and craft.  Every time I go back to the show, I still get that nostalgia hit from memories of traipsing around the showgrounds with Mum, my sister and my brother during the September school holidays around 40 years ago.

My aim is to always spend most of the time looking at the awards for knitting, crochet, sewing and all the other craft and hobby competitions.....I'm going to be honest and say I sometimes wonder what the judges look at when awarding prizes for wool and fabric based competitions.  Some of the decisions rendered me speechless, and not always in a good way, but who am I to judge, the amount of work on all pieces is really priceless and unfortunately prize less in a lot of cases.

I also love looking at the awards for baking....cakes, scones, slices, biscuits then the making of preserves and sauces, always a lot of fun.....and then the cake decorating, it's all there to be viewed.  

No trip to the show in my mind isn't complete without a visit to the Country Women's Association as well as a look at the animals, my favourite bit of the show.  The dog competitions, with shades of "Best in Show", the absolute precision cutting of sheep fleece for judging.....the absolute boredom on the faces of most of the cattle, and the swishing tale of a rag tail cat, who was just getting a bit fed up with the constant petting.  The overfed, lambs and goats wandering around the nursery animal shed, all these things along with the colour and the spectacle of the show, make it an enjoyable day......but I will say,  I'm done for at least another 5 or so years!!

 


Enjoy,

Happy Mondays......

I love Mondays.....especially when I have a big pile of hats ready for postage to different corners of the globe.

And Monday nights are always catch up with friends night, always a meal and a movie.  That's why Mondays are always happy Mondays.

New Things.....

Hat designs come to me often, but not all of them work out, some of them go back to the drawing board, some of them are just too darn hard.

Meet little Theodore, a new member of the dover & madden family.  This little hat came about as a mix of a couple of others that I had previously worked on and put down.  Anyway, Teddie has a bit of a retro vibe, I think I wore something similar myself in the early 1970's as a bub....again taking inspiration from my own baby photos sometimes works.

I'm just mucking around with the sizes, I'm trying to do a larger size, but sometimes you just lose the cuteness once they start getting into bigger sizes, but I'll give it my best shot.  I'm using new season Baby Cashmerino colours for the prototypes.....bright yellow, bright emerald green, and I may even go a sunshine orange.  We'll see. 

These little hats should start filtering into my Etsy store in the next month.  The pattern will follow later on in the year.

Can you see your little one wearing Teddie?

 

Till later,

 

Another Week, Another Blanket......

The weeks going past seem to always involve a blanket of some sort, and this week was no different.  A commission from a friend.....She loved the colours in this blanket, but was happy to leave the style of crochet to me.....so whilst on the hexie wave, I continued with the ride.

All wool, and straight edges once again, using my border that I love, love, love and ta-dah.  One very special blanket for a little fellow arriving in the next couple of weeks.  The only difference with this border was to continue with the silver grey right through it with just the little highlights of colour peeping out.  So as usual here are some photos below, and you'll find my blanket here on Ravelry......and whilst I'm talking about Ravelry, thank you to all those who purchased the little Clover pattern that's now for sale....and I have noticed little completed hats already popping up on the page, great to see.

And before you ask......yes I have another baby blanket to complete for next week!!