Still here!

I'm really slack at keeping this up. Maybe that's why I don't keep a diary!

But I have not been idle!!

I have been slowly restocking my etsy store  http://www.etsy.com/shop/danie17  and it's starting to look pretty good. Haven't sold a damn thing but a lot of people have had a look and favourited things so, can't complain.

I've been doing some commission work for a lady in Geraldton who wanted two of those thread-through scarves with the leaf-like ends for gifts and a beaded cuff like one of the ones I have but in a different colour. After we went through the frustration of trying to settle on colours for the scarves she kindly sent me the wool so all I had to do was knit it up. Easy!

I was so pleased when these were finished. But the yarn was lovely and soft!!

So now they're done and she's received them, all I have to do is the cuff. A little more tricky since I was entirely out of my beading and jewellery findings. So after ordering it all from etsy, I've finally got enough to start.

Still waiting on beads for fringe where loops are.

There are elements I'm not 100% happy with, like the loops at the bottom aren't as neat as I'd like but that's just me. I'm seriously thinking I need to buy a brass extender chain to use as a fastening for it but I think I'll try and find an Australian supplier. I'm waiting on the dangling beads for the fringe on the cuff so it's not finished yet! But at least started, finally!!!

But my biggest achievement to date is finally finishing the light cardigan I was going to wear when I thought I'd have to wear formal attire at my pseudo-son-in-law's  graduation. Soon found I didn't but now I have this lovely crochet cotton thread cardi that goes so well with the dress and spares everyone from having to view my flabby arms since I think I'm a bit old to be able to wear spaghetti straps in public. 

I wish the light had been a bit better but no one here in the wheatbelt is going to complain about rain!

The little buttons were a spur of the moment purchase that has turned out to just suit this project.

I may not get to wear it with this dress but I'll be taking it to Canberra when I go in a couple of days and see if it goes with the dress Dear Daughter will be wearing because she does need to go to the formal ball. I think that would more than make up for me not wearing it.

So there I am so far. No doubt I'll update when I come back from Canberra.

Happy Knitting :)

Have been SOOOooo slack!

I have pics. I have been knitting. I have NOT been keeping my blog up to date.I am so no good at this!

But the move here has been smooth. We are quite at home now. All the medical and dental facilities available here (well, not exactly here in Carnamah. In Three Springs, the town 23kms away.) are excellent and I'm probably getting better diabetic care here than I ever did in Albany!

The landscape around here is quite different to Walpole. I've been trying to get a good shot of how open the paddocks for wheat are but I'm not really a great photographer. It's not yet seeding season so everything is very brown!

Carnamah Main Drag

Road to Carnamah from Geralton Direction

Huge empty wheat paddocks

 But I have had visitors, my favourite kind! Family!! 

Easter Weekend my Mum and Dad came up with their winnebago and brought Jordan down with them since he had a break at Uni and Ben was going to Easter camp and he'd have been home alone for 4-5 days! Had a lovely time! Great conversation and time with parents. My Dad could withdraw to his van when all the interaction got too much for him (no real difficulty finguring out the genetic line for the Aspergers syndrome!) and my Mum and I enjoyed nights knitting together. Jordan played with our dogs and found pics of the most recent Avengers movie. Was especially great because Hubbie was doing Easter Cop Stuff at Cevantes and I'd have been by myself for 5 days. This was much better :)

Mum, Dad and Jordan

And at the moment I have my darling daughter for a visit! All the way from Canberra! Ben and Jordan came as well since Ben was the one driving and Aaron (Daughter's Army Partner) had to return to Duntroon. So we had to get a photo of this rare event when all of the children were in one spot at any one time :)

The whole family!

I miss them all, but by gosh! Is it noisy when they're all in the house at once!

So that's that. Haven't included any craft news because, well, surely this is long enough! Will soon have an empty house again when we've taken Brianna back to the airport so she can return home and look after poor Aaron who's just has three wisdom teeth extracted...a a bit of his gums...oh, and a small portion of jaw. But he's fine! Then I'll be able to write up what I've started (far too much!) and what I've finished (not nearly enough!)

I am very blessed, Thank the Lord!

Have fun :)

I Love Recycled Stuff!

It provides me with so much more materials to work with than I might otherwise have! One of my old school friends, Leanne asked if I could make a bag for her using the same owl pattern I used in an small bag I made my daughter. Didn't seem like a hard ask so I went and plunged into my stash!

It's kind of difficult because most of the wool I have is deliberately treated so it doesn't felt and the stuff I know will felt I don't really have enough to make the bag. But finally I dug out the yarn from two jumpers I'd bought from an op shop and unravelled. A pale green and a blueberry purple. They were quite fine yarn so I held 4 strands together to make a bulkier yarn. Then I drew up the pattern in those colours and prepared to begin!

Once started I really sped along! I love with stranded work how you can watch the pattern appear row by row. Finally, at 12.40am I cast off the garter edge top.

Next morning (or rather, when I got up after sleeping in because I stayed up until a ridiculous time of night!) I knit the two straps in I-cord and crocheted the loop for the button closure at the top. Then I sewed up the bottom, attached the straps and loop and then stood back and briefly admired my  work!

Pre-felting it looked pretty good but Post-felting...

...it looked even better!

So tonight I'm waiting for it to dry before sewing a lining for it, attaching it, sewing on the button and then,  Ta Da!!

It'll be all finished!

Happy Knitting :)

Another Seamless Shirt done!

I forgot to put up another garment for myself that I finished while I was in Canberra. I really love seamless knits and I wanted to knit something light that I could possible wear during the spring when the weather's a little iffy. So I found Silken Straw Summer Sweater by Purl Soho on Ravelry and pulled out two cones of acrylic I'd picked up at various op shops. Since both yarns where very thin (the grey one looked about 1ply!) I worked them held together which made a quite passable 4 ply yarn.

Then I got started. It's unlike most seamless shirts I've knit that it started from the bottom and finishes at the top. I modified the hem edge on the bottom and the sleeves because I hate these rolling up so I garter stitched them for about  10 rows. It grew pretty slowly for quite a while.

Then I finally got to the fun stuff while I was at Daughter's. Finished the sleeves, did the I-cord bind off around the neck line, washed, blocked and worn! Was and am so pleased with the result from two ordinary yarns that I couldn't have used alone but together made this lovely heathered grey shirt!

One yarn was light grey with a slight halo and the other one was a smooth yarn in a subdued white, almost the palest grey. And it fits which I always think is a bit of a miracle when I knit stuff because I haven't the patience to do a tension swatch and the few times I have my tension when knitting the whole garment is completely different! But there we go.

Happy Knitting :)

Return of the Felting Foray

Just to give myself a change from threading beads (Sooo over that!) and knitting large projects like jumpers I decided to give smaller projects a burl. But, since that would be far too simple, I thought I'd add felting to the mix. You know because finishing a project in a day just isn't fun unless you have to wait until the washing machines finished with it to see whether it's been a success or not!
So since I was still desperately seeking a slipper pattern that I really like that stays on my foot without me having to adjust it after felting I downloaded a pattern off Ravelry called "Duffer". With a name like that, how could I resist? Very quick knit, easy directions and quite pleasing appearance even before felting.

But after felting and drying on a pair of shoe airers it's superiority to every slipper pattern I have thus far tried became evident.
They stay on my foot without ANY adjustment!!
What more need I say?



But while trawling around on Ravelry I found this lovely chart for a barn owl and a few elements came together in my mind. Darling Daughter and The Boy kind of collect owlish things, (The beginning of this particular theme has become hopelessly obscure and includes some line he keeps repeating at times which is simply "Hoot Hoot.") and I have some pieces of various naturally coloured spun wool not to mention a ball of beautiful mohair that I spun myself but have been unable to use since if it touches any part of my skin besides my palms it makes me itchy! So, with no preparation or forethought I dragged out the wool and cast on. It only took me about 3 hours to finish but by then it was past midnight so I sewed up the sides and made myself go to bed without putting it into the washing machine yet.

But first thing in the morning in the machine it went! And after it came out I nearly made myself late for work by sewing it onto a cutting board to block it and putting it outside to dry. Was very pleased with the finished result and it feels like heaven when you run your hand over it! The mohair and wool are so lovely, silky and warm it's like having a small rectangular pet on your lap! I attached two felted loops and two large wooden buttons and Behold! a bag!

Yes! A bag! For holding all those important things like...a waterbottle?
A slightly large but not too large book?
A Netbook maybe?
Okay, it's a kind of strange size, 23cm wide and 27cms long, not really big enough to be a useful bag but not small enough to be a purse. But it is gorgeous!!
I don't care, I'm proud and I'm sure Daughter will love it being that she's in Canberra, the chilblain capital of Australia!
Keep on Knitting :)

As the weather turns chilly...

Dear Daughter has begun to notice just how cold Canberra can be (and it's only Autumn!) and put in an order for some gloves but she wanted the convertable kind, Fingerless gloves with a flap that you can slip over them so they look like a pair of mittens. No problem! said I.

Have wanted to have a go making these so it was a perfect excuse and I found a lovely pattern off Ravelry for just the thing! I used 8ply which in retrospect is a bit heavy but they are lovely and warm and I wanted something in a pretty colour that would put up with indifferent sorting when doing the laundry. I'm not spending my time lovingly crafting a pair of woolen mittens only for them to get tossed in the wash with anything, including Army fatigues and coming out the size of a postage stamp! So Acrylic it was! Here are my results.

Aren't they lovely? And they are so snoodly warm! I hope she loves them. I put press studs on the back of the flap and the top of the wrist so when they're folded back they wont flap around and then I sewed a little felt flower over the press stud on the flap with a hole for the press stud to go through to make it look prettier.

It was a wonderful pattern too. If you're looking for something like this look on Ravelry for Broad Street Mittens by Janie Cortese. Very easy directions and not at all confusing, well, I didn't find them so anyway :)

I finished these a few days ago so this Monday, into the post they go. I hope her little fingertips will hold out until they get there.
Happy Knitting :)

Okay, I have actually been busy...

I have just been a little preoccupied. I have actually finished stuff.
My Auty Dot's cardigan for one.
I wish it had been lighter so she could get some wear out of it now but hopefully it'll serve for this autumn and winter. It looks and feels lovely :)

Christmas and new years were interesting. Dear Daughter and her Beloved were down from Canberra for a month off so we saw quite a bit of her. Saw him on Christmas day and in passing as I picked Madam up and dropped her back. He exemplified his status as one of the rudest persons of my aquaintance when he took a slogan I'd found, liked and put on facebook...

...and he thought it would be funny to alter it to show me the errors of my delusional beliefs

Thank you so much :(
Sometimes it doesn't seem to matter how nice you are to someone they still find it entertaining to slap you in the face and when you complain point out that you've taken it totally the wrong way. And if you get upset tell you that you're not behaving in a very christian manner.
But I digress....
While she was down Madam saw a hat I'd knitted and asked if I could knit her one. Which of course I agreed to immediately :) My hat was done with some very old acrylic that I love the colour of.

Madam decided she wanted hers in a wool I'd dyed in a range of blues and strawberry reds. It looks lovely but it's hardly the sort of thing you'd wear for more than a minute in the middle of an Australian summer! And God help her if she puts it in the wash on a normal cycle. It'd probably shrink to the size of a coin purse! But it does look sweet. Had to post it to her since it wasn't quite ready.

So Daughter and the Athiest she lives with have returned to Canberra and Hubbie has been in New Zealand for 10 days attending a family reunion . I hope he's been having fun because he jolly well needs to! He'll be home tomorrow with Eldest Boy so that'll be nice...once I've tidied the house up a bit :)
I'm trying to get a project off my queue, the Blush Vest but the first attempt ended up WAY too big. The yarn I'm using has tencel in it and has very little memory to speak of. I like the drapiness of it but I'm a little worried that it might hamper this vest actually working as it should. But we'll see.
I've also started another Celtic Tote since my brother's Fiancee admired mine and I'd love to do something nice for her. I keep getting sidetracked with the vest since with that I can read and mindlessly knit whereas the tote requires concentration to follow the chart.
So there you have it. I certainly have not been idle although I probably haven't used my time as well as I should but I've had fun. And in the end that's what I'm most interested in!
Happy Knitting :)

When Your Children Grow up and Leave Home

I've been trying to get photos from Brianna of Aaron's Lanyard Parade or something just so I know somethin of what they're up to over there. Not that I'm nosy...or anything like that...so...
I pinched them off facebook!

But they are really sweet and I only took ones that had to do with Brianna and Aaron. The ones of him and his mum are personal. Nothing to do with me.

This is after the parade.


And the first Cheeseburger after about 6 weeks - just like Tony Stark :)


Brianna and Aaron in their first kitchen in their first home together. Sigh.

I wish I had a relationship with Aaron like I have with Ben, my eldest, or even not as close as Ben, like I have with David my brother. We don't agree on a lot of topics but we don't keep rubbing each others nose in it every time we meet. I always hoped I'd have a close relationship with my only daughter's partner and it makes me really sad that I don't. Especially since there are a lot of things I like about him and that I think he's acchieved HEAPS getting through the first part of his officer training. That takes no small amount of guts!
Oh well. I'm pleased that Brianna's happy though. I'd sacrifice a lot for that. Actually...I already have.

Back from the Abyss!

I've been off this for ages for one reason or another but it really is a good place for me to lay out what I've done over the week and the last week has been busy!
Brianna has flown to Canberra to be with her beloved and he's had his Lanyard parade and passed the first stage of his Officer training in the Army. They've got a lot in front of them but I'm sure they'll manage. I just miss my little girl, that's all. We went out and had a nice lunch with her the day she flew out



She arrived in Canberra, tired but unbowed and with her luggage so she was very impressed. She and Aaron are beginning to get together the things they'll need for their house so Brianna's having a ball. Sniff.
I've also completed quite a few projects as I work my way through my queue list on Ravelry. I need to go and upload my latest, the Celtic Tote from Interweave Knits. I am very proud that I accomplished this one. I've never done much cable work and certainly not to this degree. So happy!


Happy Knitting :)

And at last! Completion!!

I've finally finished Brianna's top! and hopefully added another picture of a project for Ravelry since it didn't have one for this pattern. Here it is in all its finally glory!




























There were a few things I'd change if I knit this again (which I wont be!). The armholes should really continue decreasing until you start the straps otherwise you end up with these knitted wings sticking out past your arms. I ended up having to fold them over and tack them down. It just ruined the whole look of the thing!
Also, the girl modelling this top in the book must be tiny! because it really isn't the most flattering of shapes for busty hippy women. The lace edging is nice though and really does cling at your hips but the whole thing then billowing over it does tend to detract from it.
But it's done and its what Dear Daughter wanted so I sent it up to Albany with her Father today. Apparently she loves it but we'll see whether she holds to that after she's worn it for a while. There are a lot of things I'd change if I'd known before I started but that's life!
And it is lovely and warm :)
Keep Knitting :)

Many Thanks :)

I must thank my lovely daughter for all the help she's given me to set this blog up, as well as finding this really cute template :)
She's a sweetie and I know she's very bored here in Walpole without enough employment to keep her occupied or financial and I know she really misses her beloved up in Perth.
But I really appreciate her presence and help and I pray the Lord will bless her and all those she cares for.
I love you, Darling Daughter.
My Brianna xx