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......

Special Friend....

When a special friends b'day rolled around this week I must admit I was a little stumped with what to make her... You see, this special friend is pretty amazing, a real inspiration - especially on the crafting front... It's nothing for her to whip up a dress that looks like its come straight out of a catalogue and she's often making (and wearing) gorgeous pieces of clothing that shes simply 'made-up', without even needing a pattern... Shes also an amazing cook, crochets and knits, dabbles in gardening and so, so much more....

 

So I got to thinking, its been ages since I sat at my trusty old sewing machine, I guess with a newborn in the house some things just seem to get forgotten about.... I did start on a knitted project for my friend but for some reason that just didn't feel right so I grabbed some gorgeous hand printed fabrics from my stash and got to making some 'rustic' looking coasters for my very special friend... 

I can picture these fitting in just perfectly at her home - steaming hot cups of tea resting on them...

Happy B'Day Caz-y, you truly are an inspiration... xx

 

The idea that I used for the coasters was from the book 'Last Minute Patchwork Gifts' and the fabrics were by 'Prints Charming' and 'Yardage Designs' - 2 amazing Australian designers....

Autumn Hats....

In my Shop this week to celebrate the start of Autumn I've put together a few Hat Kits....

 

There's 4 shades available and 2 kits in each shade (1 with needles and 1 without)

 

Each kit comes in a handy little carry pack with everything you need to make 1 adult sized hat....

 

Here's some of the kits all packaged up and ready to go...

Pop on over to my Facebook page to find out more... 

Scrapy Granny's.....

This past couple of days has seen me raiding my overflowing stash bag for those little tiny balls of leftovers, desperate to find the perfect home/project for them - I nearly forgot just how many I have... With the majority of them being a DK cotton I set to work hooking them up into little 'Scrappy Granny's'.... 

So far my stack is at 30 Granny's and I'm only half way through my DK scraps!!!! 

Now, what to make with them all? I'm thinking maybe a doll's blanket, or a pillow cover, maybe a table runner, or even some pot holders???? What do you think???

Valentine's Day....

I love having a computer at my finger tips... Even though at times there's NO Internet connection (and there's too many of them these days to start whinging about now) I'm still able to edit and print out cute and funky things for my girls when the need arises...

So this Valentine's day we found some super cute kidd-y craft ideas via Pinterest (don't you just love that site??!!!), downloaded some printables to our computer and set to crafting....

First we grabbed a few scraps of felt, variegated thread, and some cute paper clips and with 1hr of crafting time my 6 yr old had whipped up some 'heart' themed book marks for those special friends in her life (check out my Valentine's Day board on Pinterest for the tutorial)...

And just because we had a few glow stick bracelets floating around in our craft cupboard we made half a dozen of these up too (idea also found on Pinterest)...

Happy (belated) Valentine's Day Everyone!!!

Here's hoping your day was filled to the brim with LOVE!!!!!!

 

Cats and Knitting...

During the last few weeks on my pregnancy with Tobie I was a bit of a knitting machine - most of it I'm yet to photograph but this week as the mornings became cool again, even if only for a moment, I found myself bringing the hand knitted goodies out, the ones that I created during that beautiful nesting time - the final trimester of my pregnancy....

 

This is the Puerperium. I knit it using 80g of Malabrigo Rios - a DK, almost worsted weight yarn, in the sweetest shade of blue.... I followed the newborn pattern exactly and it fits my 10 week old baby boy just perfectly!!!!! I love this little top so much that I've cast on for one in the Ravelry Red shade as well...

Although it's still quite hot here I just can't seem to get past my knitting obsession!!! Everywhere I sit there's a little basket beside my chair filled to the brim with yet another project that I'm itching to finish in time for the cooler months - a new cardigan in Noro for me, a school jumper for my big Connie girl in Malabrigo Rios, a squishy cowl in Malabrigo Worsted for Millie, cotton ripple blankets for 2 of the 6 beds in our home, gloves for a special friend, a 2013 Winter beanie for the man of our house and the softest lace scarf for a very special lady in the new Malabrigo Silkpaca pictured below.... For the lace scarf I'm using the Paris Night shade on the bottom row in the picture below - simply divine!!!!

So, of a late afternoon while I sit in the garden, knitting, my girls aren't too far away..... On one side of the yard Connie colours in, as you often see her doing, with her biggest boy not too far from her side...

And on the other side of the yard Millie sits, waiting ever so patiently for her tea party guest to arrive....

This cat lady sure has left an imprint on her little girls - they simply love their cats too..... xxx

(for details on the Silkpaca be sure to check out my Facebook page)

pick-your-own

Over Xmas we headed down into Victoria to visit some good friends for a couple of days. While down South we popped into a gorgeous 'pick-your-own' strawberry farm and came home with a bounty of the freshest, plumpest, sweetest strawberries I have ever tasted in my entire life!!!

 

After eating our way through at least 10 kg I decided to try my hand at some strawberry jam with the remaining 5 kg.... It was a huge success and I made 16 jars!!!! Many of the visitors to our farm over the past month left with a jar of jam under their arm after falling in love with its taste on scones for arvo tea... :) 

 

Now, a month later, I'm down to my very last jar...

This is the most amazing strawberry jam I've ever tasted!!! I'll definitely credit its awesome flavour to the fabulous fruit that we picked. You see I have made strawberry jam before but instead of freshly picked fruit I used several punnets from the supermarket and must say the end result was good but nothing to write home about...

 

Every morning for the past 5 weeks my whole family has been enjoying jam. Be it on toast, pancakes, crumpets or muffins - you name it we're eating it, with jam - yummo!!!

So, here's my recipe....

 

Strawberry Jam

This recipe is for 5kg of fruit because that's what I had. Divide the recipe according to what quantity of fruit you have.

juice of 4 lemons (helps to set the jam)

 1/2 cup of water

5kg strawberries (green bit removed)

4kg white sugar

 

Place water, lemon juice and strawberries in a large pot. Bring to the boil, cook for 15mins. Add sugar, bring to boil stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved. Cook at a rolling boil until setting point is reached. Pour into sterilised jars and seal. Eat straight away or keep in the pantry for up to 12months (if you can)...

 

Do you have a favourite 'pick-your-own' place???

 

Crazy Weather....

Wow - hasn't the weather been all over the place this past week???!!!??

The start of the week was terrible here with a mega dust storm that blew in through every little crack of my 100 year old homestead - I still haven't cleaned all of the red dirt up yet and its been a week!!!... Then Friday was ridiculously hot with temps up in the high 40's and now Saturday it's overcast and a pleasant 25'C with a few drizzles of rain here and there...

Crazy - right????!!!??? What's it like at your place???

(view out my front gate on Sunday arvo)

 

So, with all of this 'crazy' weather about I packed my girls up and we headed into town for an afternoon at our amazing local library....

 

The Cobar Library really 'rocks'!!!

 

The quality of their books is amazing and I love the fact that they are always ready to lend a hand whenever need be - like on this particular day when my little Millie wanted a book about Autumn,

 

and my Connie-girl was in desperate need of several 'horse-y' books....

The gorgeous librarian simply smiled and helped away, for a good hour too mind you, a real sweet-heart... :)

We're so lucky to have such an awesome place to hang out, don't you think???