Way Back When

It seems that as the temperatures soar higher the work load increases round here...

With the mercury creeping up past 40'C today we load into our truck and hit the road. When DH gets called out to collect and cart stock, more often than not it's a family affair....

Some loads can see us travelling for hours up dusty old tracks but they're the trips we love the most!!

They're the ones that reveal hidden treasures... Like the 100yr old cottage that we stumbled upon today, lined with decadent pressed tin and echoing a time gone by.
As I listened to the Cocky tell the old building's story I longed to see what it would have looked like 'way back when'....

25% Off and a Little Stitch 'n' Bitch.....

I knew when Molly arrived from Alana it wouldn't be long before I was knitting it for my girls too. And guess what??? I might even have to knit one for myself!!!! This pattern's sizing goes all the way up to Large Adult - AWESOME!!!! (I am now stocking this pattern at 'Jellywares on Marshall', email me if you're interested)

I don't currently stock the yarn that Alana calls for in the pattern so I substituted it with some of the divine Debbie Bliss 4ply Rialto which I do have in stock. This 100% extra fine Merino Wool is squishy and silky smooth and is by far one on my favourites by Debbie Bliss....

So if you're yet to give this gorgeous Wool a try, pop into 'Jellywares on Marshall' as it's 25% off, with any Pattern purchase, from today until the 15th of Feb.

Also, if you're in Cobar tomorrow we're having a little 'Stitch n Bitch' at 15 Marshall St from 2pm to 6pm. It's free and all you have to bring is yourself and a yarn-y project to work on... I'd love to see you there!!!!

YAY!!!!

I finally think I got it.....
The sleeves are well on their way to recovery (after I balls up my first attempt) and I can actually see the finish line on this super cute little cardi and you know what??? It might even be in the next day or so.... YAY!!!!!

I Had To!!!!

This morning I woke ever so early, eager to spend some '1 on 1' time with a special little lady....

You see, with skeins and skeins of delicious yarn surrounding me these days it's hard not to be seduced into yet another knitting project, leaving my poor neglected sewing machine to sit and collect dust.... So, at the start of this week I made a date, I had to!!! If I didn't write it down, book it in so to speak, it was never going to happen.....
'Janone Jan' and I spent 2 glorious hours together and look and what we accomplished.....

3 super cute little dresses......

All wrapped and ready for the giving.....

Have you been making any special dates lately???

Forgot...

I made this little crochet pouch back in November last year and for some reason forgot to post about it...

I loved making this!!! To start with make 2 x 'cup' shaped objects, an inner and an outer. The inner needs to be about 1cm shorter in height than the outer so that when you sew in your zipper it doesn't get snag-ed.
Fold your outer in half, measure the opening, buy a zipper to match this measurement and hand sew both cups to the zipper. I sewed the outer on first and than place the inner inside the outer, wrong sides facing.... Pretty simple hey???

You could use any stitch you like on the outer cup (I used a mini puff stitch) but it's best to keep it simple on the inner cup with 'single crochet' only...

I'm currently stuck in a bit of a rut re-working the sleeves on the cardi that I started while away on holidays earlier this month, the darn things are too SHORT!!!!! If only a little fairy could magically appear and help me finish off this super cute little number, I'm so itching to wear it!

Take 2...

I loved how quickly my first 'Spring Garden Tee' flew off the needles that I couldn't help but cast on for another one S T R A I G H T - A W A Y....

This time I used the 80% cotton/20% wool blend yarn Sierra by Cascade (I currently sell this yarn in my shop for $9.50 per 100g skein). I made the size 3 month and had about 5g to spare from a 100g skein. So that means that this little Tee cost me less than $10 to make, now that's a bargain!!!!!

I really love how the little lace-y details on the sleeves creates an almost ruffled effect when finished....

This little pattern was/is such a joy to knit that I can't wait to cast it on yet again, this time for my Miss Connie in the size 3....

If you're interested in a copy of this pattern I am currently selling them. Contact me via email for more details.... Also, don't forget to enter my 'Debbie Bliss' giveaway here for your chance to win some of the delicious yarn that I made my first Spring Garden Tee with........

Blog Auction...

I've been watching the Queensland Flood Devastation on the news over the past couple of days with tear-y eyes. I'm fearful of what the next 24hrs will bring the residents of Queensland, especially when the river is predicted to peak at 4am in the morning...

These poor, poor communities that have an extremely long road to recovery ahead of them after the peak of the river water subsides... There is currently 43 people still missing and 12 people confirmed dead....

So when local blogger, Kylie, emailed me today to ask if I could pop on over to her blog to check out the yarn auction she was hosting to raise funds for the flood effected residents of Queensland I couldn't load her blog page up fast enough....

I'm such a yarn junkie and this beautiful skein of 70% super-wash merino/30% sea cell she has up for auction will make the perfect accompliment to my 'yarn stash'...

I love the fact that the funds used to purchase this yarn will be going directly to the people who need it most through a donation on the Queensland Government Telethon website...

So if you'd like to make a bid on this gorgeous yarn to contribute to the Queensland Flood Appeal just pop on over here and place your bid... :)

These 2 blogs (here and here) have auction's on at the moment too, also raising funds for Queensland...

Debbie Bliss Give-Away......

My first FO (finished object/project) for 2011 is this cute little Spring Tee by Alana for my Mil-Mil. It was her b'day present and I made it using a gorgeous Sky Blue shade of yarn by Debbie Bliss from her Eco-baby range...

You see, I'm very excited to be stocking a large range of Alana's patterns this year in my shop, Jellywares on Marshall....
Alana is the very talented lady behind the podcasts that I told you all about back here. Yes, those very same podcasts that I became totally A D D I C T E D to that kept me glued to my computer for weeks... Well, that was until DH found my 8 year old 'MP3 player' (I can't believe that baby still worked). Now I'm mobile and my 'Knitting Pod-casts' are mobile with me....
O.K... Back to the patterns, this little Tee comes in such a large size range, 3month to girls size 14. That means that I can make one for each of my girls every year for many, many years, now that sure is great value for 1 pattern, right????

This Tee is knit from the top down which means NO SEAMING, my favourite type of knitting... It has the cutest little lace-y caped sleeves and the trickiest part of the whole garment is the neckband which is a series of picked up stitches worked in the round in garter stitch, now that's not hard now is it???

O.K... Because I love the yarn that I made this Tee out of so much I thought it would be fun to have a little give-away....

So for your chance to WIN 1 x 5og ball of Debbie Bliss Eco-baby, a gorgeous 5ply 100% cotton (valued at $9.50), in the same shade that I've used in the pictures above, just leave a comment on this post letting me know what's inspiring you at the moment.... Is it knitting podcasts like me (if so which one) or have you found a book (I'd love to hear about it) that you just can't seem to put down.....

I'll draw the Winner at the end of the month so you have 3 weeks to enter....

What Do You Reckon???

When I arrived home from our extra long family break/holiday I was welcomed by an abundance of ripe passion-fruit, 40 to be exact, all waiting for me on the ground, just below my trusty old passion-fruit vine....

It's taken me nearly 4 years to finally grow a vine that is healthy enough to produce an abundance of fruit and an abundance of fruit it is bearing...

So with visions of passion-fruit wine (be very excited) in my head I pulped my 40 passion-fruit into zip-lock bags.

These are now headed for the freezer until I have enough pulp needed to create my very first brew of passion-fruit wine.... YUMM-O!!!!!

Another fruit ripe on the vine at the moment are heirloom Tommy-toe tomatoes....

These babies have had a pretty hard start to life. You see about 3 months ago 80 head of sheep decided to have a little party in my garden when I went to Sydney for a long weekend with DH and my girls... I arrived home to a TRASHED garden and have been too devastated to share pictures with you all... Everything, and I mean E V E R Y T H I N G was gone. Grapes, tomatoes, roses, jasmine, apples, cherries, pomegranates, citrus trees, lettuce, cabbage, broccoli, shrubs, vines, oh and did I mention my tomatoes, my 30 odd heirloom vines ALL GONE!!!! Well, not all gone, the stalks were still left so I guess that's something, right???!!!

Well, thankfully we had just over an inch of rain that very same week which gave all of my little bare stalks a boost of energy and they got to work recovering....

So now 3 months down the track I'm starting to see greenery again and small amounts of fruit, I'm so glad that everything is recovering... I spend a lot of time in my garden and to have it all vanish over a couple of days was heart breaking to say the least... I hope those darn sheep got a belly ache for being so cheeky....

Tomorrow we are heading out in DH's plane 'Charile' for a joy ride....

We might stay out all day, heck we might ever bed up somewhere for the night.... We're thinking fishing, on the river, with a nice cooked meal maybe even an ice cold beer from this place, what do you reckon????

Our Little Mil-Mil.....

2 years ago today we welcomed a special little girl into this world at 12:30am....

She had a gorgeous head of copper-y hair and the tiny-est little kissable lips I'd ever seen....
We named her Millie Rose but now she is know as 'Little Mil-Mil'....

She is ever so generous with her contagious smiles...

And will talk your ear off if given half the chance....

Her favourite thing to do is sit outside and soak it all up

with her many feline friends....

She loves being poked and prodded...

And doesn't even mind helping out in the sheep yards now and then....

We've taken her on many a road trip....

And she always manages to smile through the heat of a long and exhausting day out at a clearing sale....

She loves crusin' round the farm checking on the stock

and it's a real hoot when Dad lets her drive....

She loves exploring on the motorbikes

and is happy just 'hanging-out' in the shearing shed while everyone else gets down to work...

But the one thing that our 'Little Mil-Mil' loves most of all is her big sister Connie....

And you know what.... Connie loves her just as much!!!

So, Happy B'day Mil-Mil!!!! We couldn't imagine a moment of our lives without you. You're our special little girl and we love you so very much... xx

Happy New Year's

As we welcome the 'New Year' I'm thrilled to be able to sit, relax and enjoy my kids as we holiday in Sunny Canberra. A lot of this has been happening while we've been away and I'm loving it....

Yes that's right, knitting... I'm working on something new and guess what??? It's for me!!!!

Happy New Year's everybody.....

Hugs - Jodie xx