5 more sleeps

it's the school holidays at the moment and i can tell you right now, there are 5 sleeps until school starts again. it isn't that i don't love having Finn home from school (and not having to think up new and exciting things to pack in his lunchbox) but the boys fight. a lot. it's really difficult to find something for them both to do- they can't agree on anything and when they do play a game together it's just about an all out brawl over who is the boss. unless said game involves running around the backyard showing all the world your bum, they think that is a fantastic game and they agree on that! 5 sleeps......
as a result of my mad house this fortnight not a lot has been achieved. no sewing whatsoever. if i even thought about getting out the sewing machine i'm sure the boys would fight over who got to pester me the most. so knitting is my salvation at the moment, in the calm hours after the squids are snoring in their beds i sit. and i knit.
i think i mentioned that some important knitting projects have arisen recently. first of all my father requested a couple of pairs of slippers for his sister's daughters. the older, 12 year old wanted red on the bottom and mid-blue on the top and the younger, who i think is about 8 or 9, wants sky blue. very specific, yes? so first up i've made the red and blues. they are the knit then felt ballerina slippers from Fiber Trends. great little pattern and knits up very quickly (love that).

i used Bendigo Woolen Mills Rustic and they came out of the machine very fuzzy. i hope i got the colours right! the other pair, in sky blue, will be from Knitty's Fuzzy Feet pattern. haven't started those yet! i have until Christmas!

more pressing is this:

this is going to be the I Do shrug, again from Knitty. it is for the lovely miss Erin to wear on her wedding day in November. i know, you think November, pretty warm, but as anybody who lives in Melbourne will tell you- you never know! i'm knitting it with Debbie Bliss Pure Silk, so lovely and soft and silky but gee whiz, it's hard to wind into a ball. and right now it just looks like a blob but keep your fingers crossed for me that once it's finished and blocked it will be transformed into a thing of great beauty (don't worry E, i'm sure it will!).

and the last project at the moment that needs finishing is my scarf for the mama made scarf swap at CraftyMamas. i think i was supposed to send it by last week but i am a little bit behind (i dyed the wool on the day of the deadline)! my partner has a slight Christmas obsession hence the colours. once it's nice and long i will chuck it in the washing machine to felt. i figure if she doesn't like it as a scarf it will make a great christmas decoration! ok, i'll show you the photo of that one later, blogger won't let me upload the photo right now. 5 more sleeps.

i love shoes

i've just found my perfect shoes. so shiny........ now i need to figure out how to get a pair!

clever lady

my sister in law, Shara, is a very clever lady. recently she opened up a shop on Etsy. i'm about to add the link to my sidebar. you should go and have a look. among many other talents she is a crocheting genius, it's nice to have someone i can go to for advice because my crochet skills are probably best described as remedial.on ya Shara!

egads, two weeks!

golly, isn't it typical that the living of life gets in the way of writing about the life but then when the opportunity arises, one has very little to say? hmm....
it's been a pretty busy couple of weeks for me. let's go all the way back to the start shall we? oh the knitting.... i had to rip out my progress on the Swallowtail Shawl due to an unfixable mistake, i just freeze when i mess up lace knitting, so ripping out and beginning again was the only option for me. i haven't got to the beginning again part yet. more urgent matters have arisen on the knitting horizon.
my mum also came down from Brisbane to stay for a week. it was so lovely to have her here, the kids adore their Neenie! i really miss not having my mum around but i am so glad that she promises to come back soon. soon, ok mum?
Archer had his 3rd birthday while mum was here,
Happy Birthday Sausage!! my funny little (big, mum!) chap.


we had a birthday party last weekend and Aunty Shara's friend, Mark, came in his Monster Truck!! Archer and Finn both got to have a ride around the block and i think that was even better than the birthday cake! Archer is still asking about when he might get to go for another ride in Mark's truck.
um, what else? i don't know.... i have the flu so my thinking is somewhat hindered due to the massive amounts of mucous taking up space in my head. i will come back again soon and hopefully have much more interesting things to tell you.

warm and sunny

that's the forecast for today. 22 degrees! the sad part is why that excites me the most: it's warm and sunny enough to wash the couch covers. thank the heavens (also known as Ikea in this case) for removable, washable couch covers. they are so grubby, they are always grubbier towards the end of winter than at any other time (well, unless they've been spewed on- but that's different, right?) of the year. it's nearly impossible to get them dry in the cold damp days. they need sun. and warmth. and when i wash them i need them to be done in one day, it's dangerous to leave the couch nude for too long! but the covers will be done today! hooray!


another reason to be looking forward to today is that i am having a visitor. Erin is coming over to play! goody! well must go- lots to do.



* the pictures are of the farm animals at Gulf Station on the weekend- oh wait, sorry, it's my kids.

i'm just not a one project at a time girl

how long has it been? a week! crikey, sorry. what have i been doing all week? um, not a lot. i've been feeling a bit ugh actually. not sure why, i'm just really tired. but that's nothing different is it? oh well, it's just a little bit ugh. at least it's not a lot ugh, right? right.
i did start on two new knitting projects. i know, why two? your guess is as good as mine. i just can't help it!
i spent a good part of the day on saturday flicking through books and old magazines, ferreting through my yarn and fondling my favourite needles. i was searching for someting to knit, something. you know that one? that something that you know you will know when you find it, when the yarn and the pattern and the needles all just click? so i eventually started on the Strawberry Bud cardigan from Rowan Babies. i stayed up late on saturday night watching Heaven on SBS just to get through to the first row of *buds*. they are so lovely! i have all year to knit this- i'm making it in a size two, for next winter. yes, i know. it's pink. i am gong to have a lot of ends to secure when i'm done!

and so on sunday we went out for the day and i needed a small project to take in the car. i took a scarf i was knitting with the divine laceweight cashmere i bought myself for my birthday back in March. i had chosen a lace shell pattern from an old Mon Tricot book but it just wasn't keeping me interested, nor was it doing this beautiful yarn justice. it occured to me that there was a pattern in the latest Interweave Knits for one skein of laceweight yarn. and you know what, there was. thus, we have the beginnings of the Swallowtail Shawl.

so far i have done five repeats of fourteen on the first chart, i'm really enjoying it. ask me how i feel about it further down the track when the rows get longer and longer.......

we had a lovely day on sunday. there was a new foodie market on at the historic Gulf Station farm in Yarra Glen. i must admit that the market itself didn't hold my attention for very long but i just love walking through all the old buildings. the kids really had a good time too. it's a monthly affair i think- fourth sunday of the month.

ok, blogger says no more photos, i'll try again tomorrow. what a pain.

today we are going to discuss the knitting

i am a knitter. mental about it. when i have a particular project in mind or a dilemma to solve i have even been known to dream knitting.


here we have a couple of finished objects. i go through little phases where i lament my lack of finishedness when it comes to the knits but in reality i do finish many more things than i give myself credit for. but i do rip lots out and start again too. first up is the very pinkypink vest made from Marta's divine 8ply merino. this is the one i made with short row lengthened shoulders to accommodate a big noggin. and my conclusion on this method? fantastic! i don't know why i hadn't thought of it before. such a simple solution. as you can see it is being modelled beautifully for me by Archer. it's intended recipient has a girth several cms smaller than my little fellow so it should be a good fit. next is one of my favourite recently finished objects. i knitted it and sewed the whole lot together months ago but only got my act together to sew buttons on last week. it fits Ivy just nicely now and will be a lovely spring weather jumper. it's knitted with Bendigo Woolen Mills 4ply cotton (in lipstick, sadly a discontinued shade). the pattern comes from my favourite op shop knitting pattern book find of all time- Knitting In Vogue Number 3, Patterns from the 30s to the 80s...... by Christina Probert. It's the Lacy Yoked Sweater, originally published in 1951.

and then lastnight i was sitting on the couch watching Top Gear with the fam and had no knitting in my hands. strange. so i dragged out the Ruffles scarf (from the Scarf Style book) that i had grown tired of. don't get me wrong, it's a beautiful scarf and i am using more Marta's 8 ply merino (my favourite!) but it's the second one i've made and it is really very repetetive. if i get into a rhythm i won't even notice it will i? i should just get on with it! i am, i am. i think i must've added at least 10cm lastnight. oh all those shortrows.....

speaking of getting on with it, my house looks as though we let farm animals in at night to sleep on the couches. i had better do something about it.

yum!

this time last year i had a newborn and look what i have now. a cake eating, almost walking, five toothed, growling baby girl!

it's ok, the birthday dress went straight into a bucket of napi-san to soak.

happy birthday possum!

oh, and not only did Finn's class sing Agadoo (do do push pineapple shake the tree!) but they sang the Flying Purple People Eater song too! they did a fantastic job and now i can't get the songs out of my head. i will have to get Finn to teach me the dance moves they were doing, they had a great little bum wiggle thing going on. probably won't look as cute if i do it though!

my baby's turning one tomorrow!

wowee, what a day. Ivy's first birthday party. she had a fantastic time, the best things about the day? the blocks in a trolley (she got the hang of walking with it really fast!)

and the cake (it didn't take long to get the hang of that either!)

ok, blogger doesn't want to play, i will show photos later.

right now i need to go to bed, Finn's grade one class is singing Agadoo at school assembly tomorrow morning and i can't wait!

now coming to you in pink

ok, pink today. pink and red is what i always go for. i was trying to break away and be wild and unpredictable. but i always come back to the pink. the eleven year old me would be horrified if she knew.

do we like the blue?

i was wondering if i could fiddle with the html in my template to change the colour somehow. and i thought to myself, " what if i just type in the name of a colour and see what happens? i can just put it back the way it was if it doesn't work". so now my background is lightblue (it didn't like spaces). i am rather impressed with myself. i don't know if this is really the right colour, maybe i should fiddle some more.

or maybe i should just leave it at that before i totally stuff the whole thing up because really, i have no clue. and not even the foggiest notion how to fix anything!

head holes for big boofy baby heads

my voice hurts, it's no good for singing "miss polly had a dolly" i discovered thismorning. the babes didn't care, they wanted more. "heads shoulders mummy!!"

but, dreaded lurgy aside, i did have a productive weekend.

on thursday i headed into the big smoke to visit Marta's. i am knitting a vest, my favourite pattern from the Rowan Babies book. i probably don't really need a pattern to knit a vest but i like it when all the numbers are already figured out for me, i'm mathematically lazy. the pattern actually calls for Rowan All Seasons Cotton but i like to make it from Marta's 8ply merino. it's a lighter weight yarn but i like the looser tension. plus, any excuse to go to Marta's right? it's like a wool lolly shop, i could spend hours in there figuring out the best way to spend my pocket money.

i have made this pattern lots of times, although it has one fatal flaw, the head hole is too tight for big boofy babies heads. i have used several strategies to fix this in the past, using the stretchiest cast off i possibly could, buttons on the shoulder..... this time i am trying short row shoulders that are longer than the pattern calls for and i left the stiches live so i can do 3 needle cast off once i've done the front.


and this is another back piece of the same pattern. this one is knitted from some merino i dyed with food colouring. i still have to wind the second hank into a ball so the knitting has come to a standstill on this one! but you can see another neck widening strategy i am trying here. i decided to do moss stitch instead of ribbing at all the edges and i've put a little placket at the centre of the back.

i will eventually finish them both and be able to compare the effectiveness of all the methods. eventually.......

the sewing machine made an appearance this weekend too. another quilted bag, i'm hooked on this quilting thing, love it! i wanted to use this little apple print i made last week so i put it in the centre of a log cabin square then sewed those bits on either end to give it a cute shape. the floral fabric on the back is a sheet from the op shop. yay for op shop sheets!

the op shop sheet was also used to make Ivy's calico dolly a dress. so far she has bloomers and the top half of a dress, man those puffy sleeves and collar took ages. so i will have to sew the skirt on one night after the squids are all in bed. the dolly is a present for Ivy's first birthday, she is turning one on monday. my how time flies!

now i'm off to cough up a lung and then sing some more nursery rhymes. have a lovely tuesday!

dear blog,
sorry to have neglected you like this all week, i'm still here and i've been thinking of you. i know we are still geting to know each other and i don't want you to think i don't like you. i do, i really do. it's just been a bit of a slow week craftwise. i promise to be a better blogger next week. there will be crafting over the weekend....i can feel it in my waters.
yours sincerely, justina

a right scone

what a loverly sunday. i baked and i sewed and we had a guest for lunch (she just visited, we didn't eat her). and now it's almost dinner time. and then bedtime. i love bedtime.

it started with pumpkin scones. i'm no Lady Flo but i am a fan of the old pumpkin scone. my recipe comes from Stephanie Alexander's lovely stripey book. love that book, i use it for everything. yum. although she says to cook them all as one big lump and cut the scones into squares. i am so not in agreement on that front. scones simply must be round. so much more oh, proper. just proper.

then i got to sew. i saw pictures of a beautiful quilted bag in a Japanese patchwork book at Kitty-Craft recently and i just couldn't stop thinking about it. my lovely sister-in-law bought me a little surprise last week when she went to the quilt show in town, and these fabrics were screaming out to be made into a cute new purse. i couldn't find a picture of the book again so i'm not sure how my memory compares to the original but i'm so chuffed. it's the first 'proper' quilting i've done (i went to the quilt shop and asked the woman there for some squishy stuff, luckily she knew i meant batting!). i'm not sure yet who this is for, i don't think it's for me, but i might give it a little test, just to check that it works ok.

i pledge

The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge

I, justinamaria,
Pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 4 months.
I Pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recylcle pre-loved items for myself for the term of my contract.
I Pledge that I shall create and craft items of clothing for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract.
I Pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoated, recylcled, crafted or created item of clothingon the Wardrobe Refashion blog,so that others may share the joy that thy thriftyness brings!

snot city

you know it's a good day when the baby wakes up with her face covered in crusty boogers. it seems the winter snifflies have made it to our house. i thought we might just get through the snotty season reasonably unscathed this year, but i was foolish wasn't i? it was probably me thinking just this week about how great it was that my kids have all been fairly healthy recently (we won't mention archer's infected nostrils!!) that brought it on. good one.

once i wiped off the crusty bits it's not all that bad. she is still well enough to harrass the teletubby.

i'm so lucky. lucky, lucky, lucky.

i 'm such a lucky girl. a couple of weeks ago the lovely justine at 62cherry (we share the same name, hehe) gave away some of her gorgeous little purses. and i got one! just as soon as i was able to wrestle it away from archer i put all my knitting thingimys in it. perfect. although archer still thinks it is his! thanks justine, we love it.

new (old) machine

i was lucky enough to me given a beautiful old Singer machine recently. it's a 99k model, electric. i finally had the chance to sit down with it and have a proper look and play. i discovered the manual in the box too, so threading it was a breeze (i think that without the manual it would have been confusing and involved swearing!)

i made a little smock for Ivy. the fabric is from Ikea a few years ago, i didn't have enough in one big piece so i pieced it together in stripes. the whole thing is made on the Singer apart from the buttonholes. i had to bring out the modern machine for those!

i signed myself up to become wardrobe refashionista thismorning! i'm pretty excited.

happy G day

who would have thought that lolly teeth make such beautiful roses?



this is my dear gerard's (G) birthday cake. never mind that it's almost two months late. it has pretty roses. and it's pink. he loves it!

fangs and 'towboy dirts'

see those fangs? they are causing quite a number of sleepless hours at the moment. ivy is growing teeth left, right and center and those top ones are enormous. ouch.

i did manage to do a bit of sewing over the weekend.

it's a cowboy shirt for a grumpy cowboy. it's made from a sheet we bought at the op shop and the beautiful buttons are from the huge Buttonmania vintage button sale last month.