From Little Things, Big Things Grow.....

Not longer than 48 hours ago, I was standing in my kitchen popping seeds into little planter pods, oh bless my cotton socks.....looks like I'm going to be eating a lot of radishes this Summer.....or are these lettuce, basil, coriander or tomatoes!!  Forgot to mark them didn't I!

Time.....

I never had the intention of being away for so long, but time has just gotten away.  So to condense down what could be a long post, here's a little of what I've been up to since I've been away.....Knitting orders (nothing new there!!), lost 4.7 kilos in weight, celebrated my 46th birthday, got a small promotion at work, successfully grown chives, mint and parsley whilst still avoiding those pesky possums.  Purchased all the goodies to start a balcony vegetable garden.  Saw a few movies, About time...worst movie I've ever seen, Diana, second worst movie I've ever seen, Captain Phillips and Prisoner, two of the better movies I've seen. Also went to Gold Class cinema for the first time. Internet shopping from The Fat Quarter Shop, buying pre-cut squares for Christmas break quilting time.   Planning another blanket even though I haven't finished the one I'm crocheting now and just spending some time reacquainting myself with the outdoors and embracing the beautiful Melbourne sunshine.

Hope you're all well,

KIA......Knitting in Action

Sorry about being absent for a little longer than planned, but I've been knitting like a mad woman......I decided to take on some custom work, the last for 2013, and boy oh boy, suffice to say I've got a lot of orders.

It has been nice to sit back and just get on with the orders......Unfortunately my knitting seems to be in sync with my casual day job.  My day job has been quiet since July, but Murphy's Law,  I take some orders and bam......my day job kicks into overdrive and I'm going to be required 40+ hours per week right through to Christmas more or less.

Suffice to say that all spare time is now dedicated to knitting, so there isn't much other news.....orders have been heading out to Norway, Germany, Sweden, France, US, UK and I have the biggest bunch of orders from my nearest and dearest customers right here in Australia.

My Etsy store is open for a bit longer, I'll take a few more orders, I'm also working on another pixie hat for boys and girls, and I managed to get a third row done of my big coloured hexie.

Hope all is well in your part of the world, and I should say thank you to everyone that leaves a comment, I read them all and try to reply to as many as I can when time permits. You'll also notice I've been slowly adding to my blog roll on the side of this page.  So many blogs appear in my stats, so I've been sharing them with others, so much woolly love floating around the world.

Anyway plenty to do today, it's my one day off this week.

Two Rows in Two Months.

I finally finished my second row of my block coloured hexie yesterday.   We had the most horrendous winds blowing last night that damaged a lot of houses, saw the power go out to over 50,000 homes, closed the airport etc etc.....I can't knit when it's stormy for some reason, I find crochet more of a comfort.   So with the TV on loud to block out the noise of the rattling windows and the crashing waves of the bay, I crocheted lots of hexies.

I'm setting myself a Christmas target for this blanket, so 20 more rows in 12 weeks.  Achievable, what do you think?

Cheers,

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,