hats

This week I have been experimenting with making hats.

Koala hats to be precise

Experimenting with trying to take more interesting photos

 
These two guys are bookends my husband bought me for my wedding anniversary, and who normally sit on my bedside table trying to tidy the pile of books there

I've been experimenting with making bunny hats

And not sure what type of hat this one was....

There was a sale on at my local wool store- 40%, so my Saturday morning was quite pleasurable

I have lots of plans for this wool.

And last but not least, here is the mermaid, as promised

Here she is in the process of being made.
She looks a lot better in pieces than she does actually put together sadly :(

And here she is all put together-

I tried different frames and exposures to try and make her look better

But truth be told I think I just have to face up to the fact that I am not very good at making cute toys.

Daughter No2 absolutely loves her but, and in fact goes to sleep each day with the snake I made previously, the scary mermaid, and Stinky Toby.
So I guess she is a success, as she is loved very much by someone :)
Have a lovely week

Award and scarves galore

Karen from http://4lilgirls.blogspot.com/2011/07/loadsa-dessert-yummmmmmm.html has been kind  enough to give me the Liebster Award. Karen's blog is awesome if you haven't checked it out.


So I'm going to quickly give it away to some of my favourite blogs:
Gem at http://treasuresfromthecherrytree.blogspot.com/2011/07/sew-rubbish.html
Cuckoo at http://www.blogger.com/profile/00873833055446436983
Bee at http://www.blogger.com/profile/11414470318317440725
Sarah at http://www.blogger.com/profile/11959932194973002007
Annaboo at http://www.blogger.com/profile/08114896681029080504
and Jamie at http://www.blogger.com/profile/17626060574961336821

I am absolutely dreadful at doing this, I get suffused with blog award anxiety about who to pick as I just LOVE all the blogs I read, then I think should I choose ones that don't have awards, or just go with the ones I really really love, can I award it to someone I have already given one to........., then I have to remind myself that I am in danger of losing my mind if I think of too many permutations and outcomes of my decisions, and that really it's just a bit of fun!!!
Phew!
Now if you're still reading this, and haven't walked away (or clicked away) shaking your head saying *Is this woman deranged???? then I'll get down to business.

You may remember that the lovely, talented and kind Meredith from http://mereknits-mereknits.blogspot.com/2011/07/blogging.html was sweet enough to have a competition with an awesome lot of lovely things which I was lucky enough to win!!!
Making me incredibly happy!
So happy!!!

One of the fantastic things included was a ball of Cascade wool, which was just beautiful to use, I made this scarf with the adorable and super comfortable wooden crochet hook that was also included.
The wool is incredible, when its made up it just drapes so beautifully. I love this scarf and have been wearing it heaps as it is quite cold here.

One of the things I have been thinking about a lot recently is the impact that starting to blog has had on my life, I know I think about taking more photos, or things to write about more often, and ways to chronicle my days in the blog. I have an appalling memory, and this is working out well for me as a visual reminder of what I have been thinking and doing.

The other impact has been me learning so much, I have found so many new recipes and tried so many new things from the wonderful world of blogging. And yes, washing my hair with bicarb soda was one of the weirdest things, but ironically also the best!!! Thanks Lucy for that tip in your awesome blog: http://inthesky1.blogspot.com/

Anyhoo, this is a very long winded way to get to my original point, which was that when I was thinking about how to take  a photo of my new grey scarf, I came up with the idea of hanging all my scarves and cowls from the four poster. So here they are (And yes, i do wish I had tidied a bit prior to taking this pic!!)

All righty then, I was going to show you all my newest creepy thing I made whilst trying to make something lovely and cute for my daughter.
I do have plans afoot to make a partner for creepy Petula, who featured previously, but this one.............this one was meant to be me learning from my mistakes and making a super cute mermaid, that would look like one of Annaboo's super cute elf like creatures............but oh no!!!
No no no.........she looks nothing like that.
I will post about her another time as i have faffed about far too much already, but here is a teaser of her on the way to becoming the weirdest looking mermaid ever!

See you later alligators xxx

A Morning walk, a lunchtime walk, and the letter M

I thought I would share with you all some photos from this mornings walk.

It started out quite foggy

Everything was shrouded in mist

It was one of those beautiful mornings where you just feel happy

And the day is off to a great start.

I decided to try something different on the weekend. 

I had bought a wooden letter M for Daughter#1, and gave decoupage a go

I wanted to make it really sweet, so she could hang it in her room, and be reminded of her favourite childhood books

So I took to some old books with some scissors and slaughtered them. (Yes, I know that makes me sound somewhat like a serial killer)

All for a good cause

And to end today's post, here are some photos of my lunchtime walk around the lake

This statue always reminds me of the Loch Ness monster

Can you pick which birds are real and which are statues?

I hope your week is lovely and filled with sunshine and happy things :)

Crocheted Earrings anyone????

Hellooo
Hope you all are having a lovely day.
Mines has been improved by the addition of a cherry tree find,  that is absolutely awesome!!!
(thanks Gem   for the cute phrase to describe charity shopping )
I found this for fifty cents. It was published in 1971

 

It is really cute, except for the back, which shows this rather horrific baby.
I am not sure which is worse, the baby's scary face, or the woman's scary hair!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crocheted earrings anyone???

And I love the expression on this one's face. Very Top Model!

So I anticipate lots of fun poring through the pictures, and maybe managing to learn to read patterns, or maybe not, it may all just remain hyrogliphics in my head.

In other news, I forgot to mention in the excitement of my last post, that in the post before, where I showed you the hat and scarf I had made for the three year old party the next day.............
Remember that? Because I confused myself a bit writing that!!
Anyway, the day after that post, daughter#2 and I were all dressed up and driving to the party.
We had been on the road for about 10 minutes, when I decided to call my brother, to see if his girls would be at the party.
He informed me that I had gotten the date wrong, and the party was in fact on the next weekend. I felt like a right goose!!!
So, long story short, we went to the party yesterday and daughter#2 enjoyed herself immensely, and I scoffed far too much party food!
And the birthday girl seemed to quite like the hat and scarf combo, and wore it during the party, so I was chuffed with that!
 In other news, I am quite pleased that I posted about the scary doll I made, as there was so much lovely feedback about her. Thanks to Cuckoo she now has a name, Petula, and she will soon be having a partner, thanks again to Cuckoo's suggestion. My plan is to make her a suitable similar looking doll to hang out with. So it's more than likely that her partner will, instead of looking like a serial killer, which is what I'm planning,  end up looking ridiculously cute!!

Anyway, here is a photo of my thongs to end today's post.

These are my absolutely favourite weekend shoes. They are super comfy Birkenstock style shoes, and I absolutely love the little crochet flowers on them. I bought these eons ago, before I had even started to crochet again.

So I shall farewell you all now, and as always hoping everyone is doing well, and having an amazing weekend, where you are doing the things you love to do with the people you love.

Grateful 4 MereKnits

 Good Morning!
Today I have something to really be grateful for!
Today my prize from MEREKNITS arrived!!
Of course I was ridiculously excited as soon as I saw the box.
In my excitement to open it, I may have taken some fairly dreadful photos, but here they are anyway:

I thought the prize was a scarf- which it was, and which was incredibly beautiful and warm and lovely and so many other superlatives- but there was so much more in the box!!!!!!!!!!!!

There was this beautiful Cascade wool, which I have read about, but never actually seen before. It is just beautiful, I can't stop stroking it. It's so soft, and I absolutely love the colour.

And then there was the most beautiful wooden crochet hook. Its made from Californian birch, it's smooth, beautiful and I just cannot wait to start using it.
I am pretty sure that tonight the wool and the new hook are going to get a bit of a workout.
I just have to decide what will be perfect enough to make with them.

And as if the scarf, the crochet hook, and the amazing wool were not enough...................

 There was also a moisturising bar called  Lolo, which I had never heard of before, its fantastic, and smells lovely.
Meredith had also put in these cute little tags, which will definitely come in handy

And this gorgeous lavender and tea tree oil for washing woolens!!!

I feel so incredibly lucky this morning, and really want  to thank Meredith at http://mereknits-mereknits.blogspot.com/2011/07/ahmen.html?showComment=1310679644620#c1768667775856507178

soooooooooooooooooooooooo much for her amazing kindness in having the give-away in the first place, and sending me such an amazing, brilliant, beautiful and thoughtful presents. I feel so privileged, lucky and happy this morning. If you haven't already, pop over to MereKnits blog, it's amazing, and so is she!!

And in a totally unrelated note, I have taken to going for a walk around the lake in my lunch break on days when I have time. It's about a half an hour walk all up, is just a beautiful walk, and clears my head. I have taken to dressing for my walk now in the mornings- I generally wear a pant suit (what a horrible word!!), then when I'm ready to go, just take off the jacket, and often scarf, put on my sneakers, which I keep under my desk, and away I go. The only issue is that work pants and sneakers make me look like I am an eighties movie, playing the role of some go getting corporate Barbie!!
Not that I look like Barbie. At all.
And this is a picture of the bridge at the end of my walk, the reflection was amazing yesterday and I just had to get a photo.

Anyhoo, I had better get cracking to get ready for work- I'm running a bit late for work due to all the excitement of getting the box this morning.
And the first thing I will be putting on this morning is that beautiful scarf!!!
Thanks so much Meredith, and I hope you all have as great a day as I am going to have :)
xx

hats, scarves, snakes,thanks, and a VERY scary doll!

Hello Everyone
I hope you have all had a great week, and are looking forward to the weekend as much as I am!
Above is a picture of the sunrise from this mornings walk. It was just beautiful!

One of the problems with having too much space in between blogging is that you have so much that you want to share all at once, and I fear that todays blog will be a wee bit higgledy piggledy, as I say "look what I made here....and here...and here"
So apologies in advance for me excitedly trying to fit everything in.
Speaking of excitement, and I do mean EXCITEMENT!!!!
I won a prize!!!

And not just any prize, but the most beautiful scarf I have seen in ages.
So thanks very much to Meredith at http://mereknits-mereknits.blogspot.com/2011/07/and-winner-is.html
I am so excited! It totally made my week!!

So this morning we are off to a 3 year olds birthday party, and I have made these to give her as part of her present.

Sorry about the shade, its a bit hard to see the scarf- I need to work on my photography skills!!

I was quite pleased with how they turned out- I wasn't too sure about the colours at first, but I think they are quite nice together. I hope she likes them.

This has been a week of making things. I'm not sure if I mentioned it before, but our washing machine died last week. With a family of five, that is a huuuugge pain. So whilst we have been waiting for firstly the repair man to come out and tell us it's totally knackered, then waiting for the new one to be delivered, our extremely kind and lovely neighbour Judy has let us use her washing machine.
I really wanted to make her something to say thanks, as apart from lending us her washing machine, she is just a great neighbour. She and her late husband were best friends with my grandparents,  from whom I bought this house, so we have known each other for a very long time.
I often see Judy when I am out walking in the morning, she leaves for her morning walk about the time  I come home from mine. And it has been crazy cold lately, so I thought I would make her a nice scarf to keep her warm, and brighten up her walks on these cold winter mornings.

 Here it is in progress

 And the finished product

       
I was inspired to make this from seeing a similar one on one of the lovely blogs I read, however have spent ages trying to find the original one which inspired me, and can't find it. If I do come across it again, I will post it back here.

She really liked it, which made me happy.

In other news, over at one of my favourite blogs Attic24, Lucy made an absolutely amazing adorable snake.
http://attic24.typepad.com/weblog/2011/06/ssssssssssssssss-ta-dah.html

Her snake is a thing of beauty, and in no way resembles the snake I made!!!
In no way at all!!!!
But daughter#2 just loves it, and the snake has now become best friends with Stinky Toby (sorry to Jamie's husband, who is also called Toby :) )

I think I will definitely try my hand with another snake, perhaps using thicker wool. And taking more time. And not using an old t shirt and a pair of pajama pants for the stuffing!!!

So.......speaking of things that don't turn out exactly the way you had planned or wanted them to.....................................
here is an absolutely terrifying doll I made...........

 She was not meant to be terrifying, oh no!!! She was meant to be sweet and cute. But this is how she turned out. I had wanted to try making a doll for ages, and thought I would try at first with all my odds and ends of wool.
Everyone in my house is scared of her!

Hope everyone has a great weekend, and a great week next week!

Almost forgot to say, last Mondays day off to go shopping with daughter#1 was fantastic!! We both got some lovely things. I meant to mention that the shopping trip was because she had gotten so many A's on her report card!! I was very proud of her, especially as she is doing lots of very difficult subjects!!!