My creative space...pretty things..

Today in my creative space, I have finally found a use for some lovely bright cotton I bought while we were on holiday.

These little doily things are pretty and cute and are in one of my Japanese crochet books, I have been meaning to give them a go for while, and got around to it last night.

I have no idea what the book is called, I haver seen it in Blogland quite a lot, but you can see the cover, I bought it from etsy, so if you google  Japanese Crochet books you will probably find it pretty easily.

I'm thinking that lots of these in different colour combos sewn together would make a pretty funky tablecloth for summer...hmmm, I'll see how many I make before I get sick of them.

Joining in over here today, at Our Creative Spaces, lots of other creative stuff happening there!

I also wanted to chat about something else that I am thinking about, and ask a couple of questions.

Feel free not to read on here, but I would love to hear your opinions.

Recently I have been thinking a lot about the direction of my life, my children are getting older, although they are not grown up yet, and I feel that things are changing, they are more involved in their own lives and plans, and don't need me hovering around them all the time like they did when they were little . This is good. This is a natural progression, and is one that I feel is the result of the strong, secure family environment that we still have, they are making (some) decisions about their lives without too much input from us, and seem to be making good ones. 

All this leads me to the point where I feel I have time to do something else with my own life.  My family is still my first priority, but they are happy for me to do something that will make me happy, and they are even interested in what I'm planning!

Plus there is the practical side that we have been predominately a one income family, and our budget could do with some extra income.

With all this in mind I have been thinking about combining things I love, crafting, yarns, colour, and setting up a shop.  An empty shop has come up for lease in our town, and I am seriously trying to work out how I can open a wool and haberdashery, crafty supplies type shop.  There used to be one in town when I first moved here, but the woman retired and it shut. 

It is in a bit of a quiet part of town though, so I am wondering if people will make the effort to seek me out, or if the LYS is a thing of the past? Should I sell online as well?

Also I hope to offer classes and spread the yarny love with lots of inspiring gorgeous yarns and examples of what you can do with crochet and knitting.  I am not trying to make a fortune, (but a little income would be nice), I really think that being creative is so good for your soul and mental health, and I want to try and create somewhere people can indulge their creative passions.  There are so many gorgeous materials out there, and our closest yarn shop is 30 minutes away, so I think (hope) it could be viable.

One reason I thought this could work is the amazing community of crafters that I have found since starting this blog, I never thought there would be so much interest in yarny type things until I started blogging, I thought I was a bit weird with my creative endeavours, but then I found i was not alone!!

So, a couple of questions

Do you buy yarn from your LYS or mostly online?

Do you buy luxury yarns for a special treat?

Do you think there is still a place for a traditional haberdashery and yarn shop in todays world?

Do you think people have time/want to learn new skills like crochet nowadays?

Sorry to bombard you, and for rambling, if you stopped reading ages ago, I can understand!

So, I am off to my ponderings, and I hope you have a great creative day!

Sunshiny day.....

pink poppies getting blown around

   

Greetings from the garden today.

It is a fabulous day here and I just had to record whats going on in the garden.  It has been so nice to have a year with normal rainfall, the garden has really taken off after so any years of drought.

So, sorry to bore you if you are not into gardens, but it is a nice colour hit anyway......

...there is lots of pink in the garden at the mo,  lots of roses are starting to bloom, think I'll go and pick a vasefull, wish I could share the scent with you, it is really special.............

........pretty snapdragons......

The crap apple is spectacular, and covered with busy, buzzy bees.........

 ......this reddish brown iris has been gorgeous, heaps more flower spikes than last year.....

 .....the poppies just keep on giving......

Some purple aquilegia, I love these flowers bobbing around in the wind......

......and, so excited, HEAPS od raspberries starting to form, those bees are really busy pollinating everything, so I'm hoping for a bumper crop!!

 .....and there is still plenty of broccoli to be picked, unfortunately I am the only one who likes it in our house, so we have a bit of a broccoli glut! Anyone want some?

I really love Spring.

So much colour and life around, it's just ace.

Thank you all for the lovely comments on the stripey blanket, I didn't expect such a nice reaction, quite overwhelming! You guys are great!  Now time to get onto something new......hmmmmm.....

Have a great sunshiny day!!

mixed stripey blanket - the end - TADAH!!!!

OK here we go people, the stripey blanket all finished, wrapped up, complete!

Be warned quite a few photos in this post!

.....here it is on our bed.....

......I like it folded long ways too.......

........Stripe details....

.......it looks quite small folded on the bed, but here I am looking happy with myself, so you can see that it is bigger than I am!.....

I am very happy how this has finished up, pretty close to how I imagined it!

So a few facts for you all:

* the finished blanket weighs around 2kgs, so takes 20 100g balls of wool to make, no wonder it took a while!

*I used a variety of 100% 8ply wools in the blanket, brands include Colourworks, Cleckheaton Country 8ply, Bendigo Wool Mill, and some others that I can't remember.

These are the left over bits of the wools I used, I think all the colours are here, 18 in all I think!

*Sorry ladies, I made the pattern up as I went, so don't have a pattern to show you as such. I think part of this blanket's charm is the  random nature of the pattern, so I think just have a go at varying the stitches and colours and see how you go.

It is lovely and cosy and warm, I am sure it will get lots of use next winter!

So that is the end of the Stripey Blanket, it's been quite an epic crochet adventure, and I thank you all for the lovely encouragement I have received along the way, I am happy so many of you like this blanket!

The edge that I ended up doing was quite plain, as there is already plenty going on in the main blanket I think!

Pleased to report that my anti weaving in edging seemed to work!

I ended up crocheting around in sc, then 4 rows of dc along each side that had all the loose yarns to weave in. Then I folded over the dc rows to form a casing for the yarn ends and sewed this edge down. Hey presto, yarn ends all safe and sound hidden inside the edge!  

Hope that makes sense.

Have a great day!

Saturday

Hello! 

Just a quick post today, I couldn't miss 2 days in a row of Blogtober, I am already behind!

I am nearly finished the stripey blanket (last bit of sewing will be done when I'm finished here), so tomorrow will be the big reveal! (I hope!)

Today has kind of just petered away, can't really say what I got up to, nothing much, a bit of this , a bit of that, shopping, and other home things.

I have a heap of housework for tomorrow ( sooooo happy about that!), but it is only because I have let the house get a bit out of control, so no one really to blame but myself.  Might try the Lucy at Attic 24 approach, and change my attitude to enjoying making the house clean and tidy. I'll try anyway!

Tomorrow I might tell you about my big plans too, and see what you think. 

Tomorrow I am also going to do some baking, gardening, and start looking for my next crochet project. I've got a few ideas, but have not settled one one yet.

Max is waiting impatiently to get on the computer, so better stop this ramble here. 

Have a great day!

My creative space....on the edge

 hello!

My creative space today is all about the edge of my stripey blanket.  I am on the home stretch!

And my lazy non-weaving-in-of-the-threads edge is looking good I think. 

Can you work out what I have done?

It is such a busy blanket that I wanted a nice plain border, so I have decided that the red and pink edges on the sides will be balanced by  a nice neat row of single crochet on the top and bottom.

I feel the grand tah dah is not far away! Yay!

Joining in over here today, so go have a look at what everyone else is up to. 

Have a great day!

PS. my secret project is looking like it is going to be a goer! Getting excited!!

Plans......

Sooo.....what's been happening?

I have been in a bit of a limbo recently, I have some exciting plans that might actually become a reality, and it is a bit daunting.

I was telling my 11 year old about what's going on and he said

"so is this one dream Mum that you are actually going to do and not just talk about?"

Hmmmmm....... I think I have a reputation as a dreamer and a bit of a gunna.

I do have lots of ideas and schemes for things I could do, and different paths my life could take, I tend to talk them up for a few days and then they just slip back into the background of life, while everyday stuff is the actual life I lead.

So yes, I can understand when the boys look at me sceptically, I am sure they are thinking, there she goes again, off on another tangent.

But anyway, this is different.  Exciting, a bit risky (not dangerous, but it might not work), and something I think will be really good for me and all my family. Something I have been toying with in various guises for quite a while.

My mum thinks I might be having a mid life thingy, maybe she's right. I think I have been avoiding making decisions about what to do with the next bit of my life, using the boys as an excuse to put off doing things.  hmmmmm....... we will see what happens next!

Sorry to be so criptic, but I will write about what's going on soon if it all pans out .

Have a great day!

Colour hit..Nature does it best....

 Today I thought I'd give you a little feast of colour, something to lighten your heart and lift your mood!!   

On our way back from Sydney , we went through Canberra, and Floriade happened to be on how lucky for me!  We had a lovely hour stop and wandered through the tulips, and I happily clicked away on the camera, I think even the boys were impressed!

So heres a little taste of the colour fest that was Floriade! 

Enjoy!

Have a great day!