Yarn along

I'm joining in with Ginny's Yarn Along today, because I just finished reading 'Sharp Objects' by Gillian Flynn, I really liked it!  It is a creepy thriller, easy reading that keeps you turning the pages, I actually read it in a day (didn't get any crochet done yesterday!), and I have 'Gone Girl' by the same author ready to start next. 

I am still enthusiastic about my new blanket and have been bust making wheely circles ready to turn into squares, lot's of fun choosing colour combos, although I found I was taking ages deciding what colour to do next, so I have made a big list with about twenty colour combinations, and now I am just choosing one of these and making it and seeing how it turns out, much quicker, no decisions to make at all!

Have a great day!

lovely days....

 

Hello.

I have to say, I'm loving Winter so far, the days this week have been pretty much perfect winter days, we have had some gorgeous foggy starts that turn into brilliant sunshine and it is so still!  Yes, it has been very chilly, but that's what all the jumpers we have are for, and I am all for getting cosy and warm in front of a fire too.

I have been trying to make the most of the good weather, I'm sure it won't last long, and have been going down to the beach in the mornings after the boys have left for school and having a longish walk, just soaking up the sun and enjoying a quiet start to the day. ( I am also trying to get a bit more exercise into my day!) It is so peaceful and a good way to declutter the head.  This is the Balnarring beach the other morning, as you can see it's a good place for a bit of solitude, I think I saw two other people on the beach that day!  (I did see three lovely dolphins swimming across the bay, leisurely diving in and out of the water not far from the shore, a real treat ).  Think I will do the same thing tomorrow morning too.  It is also a good reminder of how lucky we are to live in such a beautiful environment, something that is easy to take for granted.

Yesterday Gary had the day off work, so we went for a drive up to Bendigo and I bought some wool from the Knitting Mills, I'm still in a bit of a pastel phase at the moment, but I did also get a nice blue/grey for my new 'wheels in wheels' blanket.  I am going to have a go at turning the circles into squares soon.

Just on another note, I am seeing that Google Reader is shutting up shop in a couple of days, so if you use that reader to check in here, you might have to follow me with Bloglovin' or another blog reader instead to keep getting my posts. I think it will be interesting to see how my visitors here change, I wonder if there will be a big drop off?

Anyway, I will have a nice colourful post for you next, I have been cracking on with my new blanket and am going to show you my progress tomorrow!  (It is too late to take photos here today, but the days will slowly start to get longer from now, we have just passed the winter solstice!)

Have a lovely day, I hope you are enjoying some time outside in beautiful weather too!

Talk soon!

xxxx

New blanket starts.......

Hi there.  

Just a quick post today to show you what I started working on yesterday.  I think I have a bit of a thing going at the moment for circles, I have been making lots of roundish things this week!

I came across this gorgeous blanket  from the lovely blog The Swiss Garden on Pinterest, as you do, (check out all her beautiful crochet, but the one I came across was the grey one with the colourful circles),  and with a bit of internet sleuthing, I found the pattern on Ravelry, so this is my new blanket start!  The pattern is called 'Wheels within Wheels' by Frankie's Knitted Stuff, and I think it is going to be lovely for my day bed.  Thanks to Frankie for such a great pattern!

The plan is to make a heap of these little round 'wheels' and then turn them into squares using a neutral (something different for me), I'm thinking a nice heathered grey or charcoal would really make the colours pop.

So far I have made 3 and a half, and I am trying something new by darning the ends in as I finish each round.  I have my big darning needle next to me and just weave them in at the end of each round while I decide what colour to do next.  So far it is working well, and not taking up much extra time.

I love how there is a bit of texture in these rounds, I think it is going to look great!  I am so enthusiastic about this new project, I am going to take it to my sisters when we go there for dinner and do a bit of hooky while we all chat!   

So what are you up to, making anything new?

Have you got big plans for the weekend?

xxxxxx

Little Piles Of Colour

Hello.

What have you been up to lately?

It's been a pretty busy time around here, once again the weeks are whizzing by very quickly, it is easy to miss a week blogging at the moment without even realising it's been that long!

The weather has been pretty dismal too, so not great for taking pictures of crafty stuff, I find myself being lazy and putting things off, waiting for a sunny break that hasn't come!

Today I have been moving furniture around, trying to create an illusion of space while squeezing more things into our house.  We have been cleaning out my father-in-laws house, and seem to have bought quite a bit home with us.  I am supposed to be decluttering, but you know how that goes, one thing out, two things in! Jesse has been upgraded to a double bed, much to his delight, so there has been a bed shuffle between the bedrooms, the result being I now have a 'day bed' in the family room.

Hmmm...I think it is in definite need of some grannifying, a couple of crochet blankets and some big cushions and it will be nice and cosy, and a bit more couch like and less bed like.

I have been doing bits and pieces of crochet, things I can do in the car.  Little piles of circles and diamonds are appearing all over the place.  Nice and colourful though.

.....and today I vacuumed the lounge room (exciting stuff, I know), these are the random baskets of yarn that were strewn around the room connected to various projects I am working on at the moment.  I think I need a better system!  Too much going on at the same time! No wonder my brain feels overloaded and bloated with things to do, I could do with an internal declutter as well!  

I am going to continue on this week with cleaning up around here and hopefully I will gain a bit more of a peaceful space to live in and think in!

One good thing, it's been nearly a week, and no diet coke, I think I might have finally kicked the habit, fingers crossed!

Do you feel calmer when your house is in order?

I hope you have a lovely week!

PS. Hello to new readers, thanks for stopping by!

Long Weekend Finishing Off......

Hello!  We have just had a lovely long weekend here, it was cold and crisp and clear, perfect Winter weather really.

Gary and I had a great night out with friends on Saturday, something we don't do enough of, (note to self, organise more adult get togethers!), it was really fun! 

Sunday was spent generally mooching about, recovering from a late night and many glasses of wine, so perfect for a spot of gentle crafty activity.

The fact that we also had Monday at home, meant I could really get stuck into finishing off these little decorations, the things I had made all the flowery shaped layers for.

You might recognise these Christmas tree decorations, (I made a couple last year here  and here if you want to see the originals),  and I have to say I am pretty happy how these two turned out, I still love how over the top all the layers look together, and the endless possibilities for colour play.

I think I have made these ones slightly even more over the top with more pompoms than the originals.

These were ordered way back in January, so it is about time they got finished!  (I have made a blanket as well for this order so that took up a fair bit of time too!)  Thanks for your patience Lori!

Sorry for all the pictures, but I want to try and remember how I did these, as I think I want to make a few more now these are actually complete!

The great think now that I have this order done is I can start on some new ideas without feeling guilty!

I know I have made other things on the side while I've been working on these,(some ideas just wouldn't wait!) but I did feel kind of bad that my lovely customer was waiting for her things, although she put no pressure on me at all, which was very nice of her!

I have started knitting a little stripey scarf as my next quick project, it is fun and I am looking forward to wearing something warm and handmade soon!

Hope you all had a great (long) weekend and got a bit of time for something fun!

Kitchenalia

Hello, how's your day going? It has been pretty ordinary here today, nothing too special, just normal household things.  I was able to dust off my kitchen dresser (it was in dire need of a dust)  and rearrange some of my collection of kitcheny things. I had fun and I am happy to look at all the 60's colour combos mixing in with my other bits and pieces.  I like surrounding myself with colourful, memory soaked things.

We went down to my father in laws place a couple of weeks ago to start clearing it out, it has been empty for 7 months and I think the family are now able to start thinking about selling it.  We went down to choose some mementos of Jack and try and decide what to do with all his other stuff.  There is a whole household of things that have to find new homes!

I bought home his 60's canisters and some old ramekins and mixing bowls and a lovely aqua Pyrex casserole dish with a lid.  They do remind me of him and all his cooking flair.

And if my sisters in law want them later on, I will have been giving them a good home!

 I love the retro strong pastels colour scheme, I think it crops up now and then in things I crochet!

I love these cute round bowls, very 60's don't you think? And there is the aqua snowflake Pyrex dish, in lovely condition, I am sure it will get a good work out in my kitchen if I can bring myself to use it!

Hmmmm.....I seem to accumulating a bit of a collection of kitchenalia, do any of you find old kitchen stuff fascinating like me?

Have a great day!

winter food gardening

Hello, it has been a wintery type of day here, cool and cloudy and damp feeling.  

Good gardening weather.   I took my camera with me to the community garden today 

(Crib Point Community Garden)  and did a bit of snapping, there is so much green in winter, and a surprising number of edibles available at the minute, a lot of brassicas and other wintery type things, parsnips, carrots, swedes etc.

Of course, I have to show you what I saw!

 Let's go for a bit of a wander.... (lot's of pictures to follow! sorry!)

 ....spring onions.....

......new carrot tops.....

 ......vivid lettuce....

.....sugar loaf cabbages.....

....garlic shoots......

.........delicate fennel fronds.......

 .......broadbeans just pushing through.....

.......gorgeous colour........

 .......baby fennels.....

 .......broccoli heads

 ....green and more green.....

 ......savoy cabbages....

 .....hot house experiments, spinach in boxes.....

 ....and out of season beans.....

 .....pumpkins of all types, stored away for winter eating........

.....butter swedes and carrots....

.......lovely lavender.....

.........a warm drink after a bit of work..........

......garlics from last year on our high tech drying wall.....

It was a very pleasant way to spend a few hours this morning, and I came home with a nice big bunch of carrots, beetroots and baby turnips.  I must make more effort to go more regularly, I really feel good about what's going on at the garden, it's a great connecting point for our community.

What have you been up to today?