Focusing on the Positive...

As much as I've been trying to keep it all together these past few months, behind the scenes wheels have slowly been falling off my once fast moving car leaving this Mumma in a bit of a heap... Things still need to be done though, as most Mums out there realise, so I've just had to suck it up, take a deep breath, even count a little at times - anything to keep this car moving..

So for this blog post I'm going to focus on some positives and reflect on what I'm loving around my home this week....

I'm loving that weekly wood cutting expeditions (or 'wooding' as my girls like to call it) are family affairs and that our trusty old wood fire has provided us both warmth and food this year, nothing beats slowly cooked meats on fresh baked bread with relish in this home - how about yours?

 

I'm loving getting my hands in the dirt, excitedly digging up clumps and clumps of iris's this week - ready for transplanting - somewhere. These gorgeous bulbs do amazingly well out in our arid environment and seem to thrive when neglected - my kind of plant... I have plans of planting them the entire way around the outside of my house yard.

 

I'm loving that I have fruit on my 4 year old Valencia orange tree for the first time and that they are finally sweet enough to enjoy - my girls are super excited to make orange cake and juice this afternoon...

 

I'm loving that I have clever friends who inspire me and 1 friend in particular who's inspiration on the gardening front oozes from her skin each and every time we meet... These cuttings that she gave me are flourishing on the window sill of my kitchen, enjoying the morning sun.

 

I'm loving that all of the leaves have almost fallen from our Cedar trees, changing the way my garden looks in a surprising way, opening it up more than I ever remembered.
I can't stop thinking about what I can do with this bare, unproductive section of my garden... It gets all the hot wind in Summer and heavy frosts in Winter so I've had many failures in this space. 

Although unproductive I do love to visit this space!!! Maybe some kind of rusty sculpture? Mini green house using old windows? What do you think?

 

I'm loving that generosity has come my way in the form of something that I truly love - old stuff. Some wooden boxes, an old school bench, a cast iron table from a meat house, a galvanised mop bucket full to the brim with succulents and a 1950's kitchen cupboard have made their way into my furniture shed this week, waiting for a little love..

 

I'm loving that the sun has swung around just enough that I can now hang clothes round the side, under the verandah, out of the elements - a true sign of Winter in this home.

 

I'm loving that after a special friend sent me a secret package I was filled with inspiration and motivation on the preserving front again. Tomatoes have been soaking in brine overnight and are now ready for draining...

 

I'm loving that my girls are usually not too far away when I'm in the kitchen, helping out where they can - sometimes a little under my feet and in the way but I'm learning to breath through this and enjoy their company. The kitchen is the heart of our home and many hands do often make lighter work when it comes to hectic meal times round here....

Today we are making tomato relish!!

I'm loving that at least once a week we are enjoying camp oven dinners.
I'm even loving that my middle girl, Millie, has taken to waking at 3am and climbing into my bed for an early morning snuggle... I can still remember when my eldest, Connie, did this very same thing. I know that it won't be long before Millie grows out of it too so I'm embracing our snuggles for now, no matter how tired I am...

 

I'm loving the company of my eldest girl who in a very short time will be turning 7!! Has it really been 7 years since she made me a mother?? I'm also loving the fact that all she wants for her birthday this year is for her Mum to make her a blanket in her favourite colours...

 

So, after some time spent together choosing which colours go just right I am now loving that I get to create something for my sweet girls 7th birthday, something that she wants and something that she is simply going to love for a very, very long time..

What are you loving this week?

Little Shoes...

With the cool days upon us I find myself reaching for the hand-knits faster than I can wash them... So this past week I've been making little shoes for the smallest guy in our home to combat this problem... 

 

With 5 pairs now made and the first having been worn for a good week (with washing in between of-coarse), I can safely state that I now have a new favourite 'bootie' pattern... :)

The pattern can be found here and guess what??? It's a freebie too... :) It comes in loads of sizes and is super easy to switch out the yarn recommended for something in your stash - gotta love that...

The yarn I used for this batch of booties was 100% Baby Alpaca, super soft and super warm and apart from a little fluffing after the first couple of wears it seams super durable too... I only have 7 balls left in my Shop, they're down from $11.50 to $8.50 - check it out here or here...

What have you been knitting this week???

Feeling Special....

I feel super special this morning as I enjoy home-made tomato relish from a very dear friend on fresh baked bread...

 

There really is something special about home-made gifts, they're from the heart and just seem to taste that whole lot sweeter - don't you think??? :)

 

This week on the farm we've been busy putting some seed in the ground, a little late I guess but something is better than nothing - right?!?!!

And we've also been busy mustering in some lambs for market...

3 kids and myself have been loaded up on the trusty ol' 4 wheel motor bike for 3 days now - slowly bringing in the sheep... Tomorrow DH will truck some lambs off to market - fingers crossed they sell well for us...

 

On the 'shop' front I've got some super soft baby alpaca lace weight yarn by Malabrigo on Sale check it out on my website - www.jellywares.com

 

And if you're in the mood for a GIVE-AWAY, pop on over to my Facebook page and you could be the lucky enough to take home these hats...

'Ripple'...

I love me a good crochet project and there's none better, in my eyes, than a crochet blanket...

 

My go to crochet blanket pattern at the moment is Attic 24's 'Ripple' - I simply love how quick and easy this pattern is to hook up yet it's so effective once finished...

My blanket making yarn of choice would have to be Cascade Sierra... This yarn is a dream!!! It's 80% Cotton and 20% Wool making it perfect for everyday wear and chucking in the washing machine when the need arises... The blanket has been used and loved by my 4yr old for almost a year now, machine washed and line dried many a times and it still looks new - gotta love that... :)

Do you have a favourite crochet project??? What about a favourite blanket?

Winter...

I love it now that the temps have dropped, things seem to slow down around here as we snuggle into our handknits and enjoy each others company - knitting and stitching and baking and playing and enjoying regular bonfire's and camp oven dinners... 

 

Thankfully the days still have just enough Sunshine in them to lure us out of our toasty wood fired home, to play (and work), even if only for a little while...

 

Smores are by far my girls afternoon tea of choice these days as we slowly work our way round the farm burning through the piles of old limbs we've been stacking through Autumn... 

 

If you've been searching for a little hand knitted warmth for yourself then be sure to pop on over to my Facebook page as I'm having a Give-away of the hand-knitted kind...

 

It's for this shawl which was made as a display for my Shop and now it's up for grabs - be sure to pop on over and have a look, you just never know your luck...

Winter Knits....

I'm totally loving that the temps are slowly starting to drop, means that I can finally start to wear the knits I've been working on over the warmer months.
 Back in November of last year I had the pleasure of knitting a design by the very talented Veera Valamaki - Color Affection. I simply love this pattern and during the final days of my pregnancy with Tobie it made for the perfect knitting project - simple,m but not too much so that I got board.... It had just the right amount interesting techniques to keep me knitting happily all the way to the end..... I'm now itching to make a Color Affection in some Autumn shades..... What do you think?? (pop on over to my Facebook page to grab this yarn at a special price.......)

This was my first attempt at composing a blogpost using a Samsung Tablet... So much trickery than I thought it would be... :( Would love to hear if you blog from a Tablet and how you do it...

Hats...

Just added some new hats to my Facebook page - be sure to pop on over and check them out... ;)

Naked Spaces....

I've been working through my bag of yarn-y scraps of late, hooking away at some super cute crochet doily's to adorn some naked spaces in my home... 

The pattern I'm following is a freebie by the amazingly talented team at 'Purlbee'... I'm using a mixture of 5ply cottons, straight from my scrap bag, and a 3.5mm hook... These are perfect 'mindless' crochet projects which take no time at all to complete...  

This past week we welcomed a new member into our family, meet Sally....

She's made herself right at home and is spoilt rotten by each and everyone of us,

especially the littlest one's in our tribe....

Can you believe that Tobie is already 5 months old??? Where has that time gone???

And it's Term 2 already - wow!!!! - Connie's school desk is a wool bale today - not a traditional schoolroom I guess but a place to learn all the same, right?? 

So while Connie works away on her Maths, Millie helps me take a few more yarn-y pictures for my Shop.... Mmmmm, ravelry red...

And later on today we might just get a chance to spend some time with these cuties too...

An afternoon ride sounds just perfect - what do you think?

Launch SALE....

This week while DH pressed wool in the shearing shed I bundled up the kids, grabbed 2 big tins of yarn, my trusty old camera and in-between helping him out was able to snap a few shots for my new website.

So yesterday after a full day in town with AWESOME Internet connection I uploaded pictures to my Website and am so excited to launch it today!!!!

 

To celebrate I'm offering 20% off all purchases, including postage, until midnight tonight. Simply enter the code 'LAUNCH20' in the Cart before Checkout to redeem your savings...

Sticky Adventures...

It was pretty dry here over the hot Summer months, I think our last decent fall of rain which gave any kind of run off was back in March of last year. So when the heavens opened up for us just over 2 weeks ago with a mega down pour of rain (which all fell in an hour) we were very lucky to tip over 2 inches out of our house paddock rain gauge....

But with all of this rain there was bound to be a few sticky adventures... Our fire truck that was a good couple of meters from the waters edge before the rain was in need of rescuing....

And poor DH with his super soft feet, he too needed rescuing after he pulled the truck from the bog - damn burs...

Then there was trusty old 'Suzy' - my little farm 'run about', she got herself well and truly stuck and it took a good couple of days before it was dry enough to pull her out...

So even though we've been doing a lot of pulling and spending quite a few hours doing a lot of rescuing we sure are thrilled that dame levels are up again and water tanks are full to the brim!!!!

My garden is glowing so stay tuned for pictures very, very soon...

 

I'm also excited that the days are slowing down and the evenings are getting longer making way for perfect knitting weather... There's something about the Autumn months, cool evenings, fresh mornings, mild days - a real change in the air...

 

 Lately I've been working on my Winter cardigans for the kids with Tobie's the first cab off the rank.

I've made him the 'Beyond Puerperium' in the 3-6month size using Malabrigo Worsted in the Continental Blue shade. This is the 2nd Puerperium that I've made. Kelly has done a gorgeous job writing up this pattern, it's super easy to follow and simply flies off the needles...

 

The booties are a pair that I made for Tobie before he was born using up some Malabrigo Rios Scraps and this awesome pattern. Tobie has been wearing these booties since he was born and they STILL FIT!!! I've washed them about 50 times (no joke) and the Rios is holding up a treat. Every time he wears them somebody always comments on how cute they are!!! I have another set on the needles at the moment in a variegated green and can't wait til they're finished too...

As you can see our little guy is growing up so, so fast - he's almost 5 months old already...

With the days perfect at the moment - not too hot, not too cold, we've been spending quite a lot of time out side, chilling out with our little guy...

Something that I just had to share with you all is this super cute wall art that Connie created for a Unit that she's been working on with bush(home)school this Term... The Unit is called 'Re-Thunk Junk' and it's all about exploring the neglected treasures that may be laying around your place, the things that otherwise would have been thought of as 'junk'.... 

So one afternoon Connie set out, by herself, and collected what she thought fit this description. Once she had a pile of treasures I set her up on the edge of the veranda with a big pot of heavy duty glue and after a good couple of hours this was the 're-thunk junk' art work that she had created. I absolutely love it and want one that says Mum now too... :)

Crochet Hat Kits

I have some new kits in my Shop this week and you can check them out on Facebook, this time for a crochet hat which is a little on the slouchy side...

There's 10 kits available, 2 in each of the gorgeous shades of Malabrigo Rios pictured below....

 

They're packaged up the same way as the knitted kits I did back here, with everything you need to make 1 adult hat inside. 

I've even rolled the yarn up into a centre pull ball so that you're ready to start hooking straight away......