Christmas day in pictures

Christmas knitting :)

I hope you all have a wonderful Day yesterday!!!!!!!! Ill be back later with some photos of our day but for now i can finally show you guys some more knitting i have had to keep a secret in case my family saw it :)

Here is the beautiful shawl i made for my mum. It is in "Ishbel" like all the other shawls i have made and made from 1.2 skeins on Vintage Purls sock yarn.







And the "Monkey" socks i made for my sister. These are the "Monkey" pattern by Cookie A and made from Needlefood sock yarn in "Plumberry Ambrosia"

giveaway update

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!

That is all i can say :)

I jumped from 36 to 53 followers yesterday! so nice to know that people actually like the stuff that i make and like to read my blog! hahaha

All new followers between now and the time i finish the shawl will be in to win too, so don't think you've missed out :) if miraculously i can reach 100 then there will be an awesome second prize too.

I was gifted this scrumdidiliumptious touch yarn merino last night by a friend of mine so this is what the shawl will be made from, I'm still tossing up patterns though ;)

Inlaws pressies

This year we are spending Christmas with my side of the family ( they are arriving today in fact, i am SO EXCITED!) So the inlaws got their pressies last weekend when they came over for lunch. Here is the basket of goodies i put together for them:



Inside were "Strawbarb" jam (strawberry and rhubarb) "kick ass Kusundi" (super hot indian relish) and "bellisimo relish" (Italian flavoured relish with olives, toms, balsamic) all handmade by me.


And bamboo/cotton dishcloths that i knitted, wrapped around Trade Aid soaps and chocolates to look like christmas crackers :)


The Kusundi was a hit and Robs brother has asked for me to make some just for him in exchange for some meat haha.

I made my first drop!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well i did it!
I snuck over to the 4square, waited till there was no-one around, dropped her off and dissapeard in a flash of Christmas spirit!
Dont know what im talking about? haha I made my first drop for The Toy Society as part of the worldwide Christmas Drop :)
"Fair Maiden" was getting pretty lonley ever since "Marina the Mermaid" swam over to Sheryls place and "Pegleg the Pirate" sailed across to Australia. So i thought i would give her a nice new home for christmas :)
I hope a child finds her and not one of the gazlillion of teenagers mooching around at the moment ;)
I didnt have time to take a photo of her all packed up with a "Take me home im yours" card on the top and info about The Toy Society on the inside, as i had to get otu of there fast! hahaha

Giveaway time!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think it is about time for another giveaway don't you?
I am currently at 36 followers and when i hit 50 i will make and giveaway a beautiful shawl to wrap around your shoulders during the summer evenings ( or winter if you are in the northern hemisphere)
Here are some examples of shawls have made recently ( all "Ishbels"):









I have singed up to knit 10 shawls in 2010 so this giveaway will be one of them :) i have at least 10 different ones i want to make so it will be a surprise!

Each follower gets 1 entry and the lucky 50th will get two entry's :) good luck!

Jingle Yarn Ball tutorial

I was playing around last night with some scrap yarn and Christmas baubles and came up with these little beauties! They only take 10 minutes each and you can use any size ball and any weight yarn you need to use up. I used left over Vintage purls sock yarn for these two.



I thought i would put up a tutorial in case anyone else wanted to give them a go :)

You will need
Styrofoam balls or fugly Christmas baubles (any size)
Scrap yarn (any weight)
Ribbon
Knitters darning needle, large
Glue

Instructions

Start wrapping your yarn around the ball as you would if you were winding a ball of wool. If your bauble has a little lip then tie around this first but if not don't worry. Make sure to wrap around evenly to insure the ball stays round and keep wrapping until whole bauble is covered. Cut yarn and tuck end of yarn under, securing with a spot of glue.
Thread your ribbon through the needle and draw through a decent amount of the yarn near the glued area ( around 8-10 pieces) tie a knot in the ribbon and secure with a bow.
Voila! You now have your own Jingle yarn ball!

I would love to see any you make so if you use this tutorial link back here so i can take a look :)

NZ Handmade Ornament swap 09

yesterday morning i recieved the last of my groups decorations so i thought i would share with you all the amazing craftyness that graced my letter box :)

All together:


Fabric star and paper/glitter heart


Fabric and mesh christmas trees filled with delicious christmas scents


Little felt mittens and a fabric apliqued christas tree ( has "aroha" embriodered on the back)


Little bird


I forgot to make one of my gingerbread men for myself though! doh!

I thoroughly enjoyed this swap and cant wait till next years one!

Kindy Pressies

This morning Ash and i got to work on making some presents for his kindy teachers :) I had seen this idea on a forum so thought i would copy it :)
We took a packet of candy canes, took off the wrappers and positioned as hearts and then filled in wiht chocolate!
NOTE DO NOT add anythign to the choclate once it has melted :( i added peppermint essence and the chcolate turned solid again and i had to force it to mould with my fingers grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr



We added the christmas cards Ash made last week to them and delivered them this morning :) went down a treat :)

M.A.N Socks

I have been slaving away making these "Globe Trotter" socks for my brother in law for Christmas. I drew his name out of the hat for secret Santa this year and thought i would make him some socks!
The pattern looks really styli for man socks but it is BORING! i really struggled with the constant seed stitch. I shoul have done what some friends suggested and cast on something else to work on when i got bored instead of torturing myself. I will do that next time!
They look great though! haha



I got to try out my spiffy new sock blockers too! A knitting night last night i was mentioning how i needed some and Sheryl whips out some plastic place mats and her blockers to trace around and voila! D.I.Y sock blockers!!!!!!!!!!!!!



Some time in the future i will get the real deal but these are great for now!

Take some....

Take 1 preschooler, some junk mail (which is abundance this time of the year) some glue, some safety scissors, felt pens and some glitter and sequins and what do you get?









Beautiful handmade Christmas cards!!!!!!!!!!!! Nana's, and Grannies better watch your letter boxes ;)

Festive Spirit

What are you doing to get in the festive spirit?
With ALL extended family presents being hand made this year, my crafting time is seriously limited but that hasn't stopped me wanting to hand make some festive decorations :)

I came across these two FANTASTIC wreath ideas while blog surfing and Ravelry drooling.

First up a "Yarn Ball" wreath



i think this is soo effective and cant wait to make one myself! This beautiful one is taken from "Shizzy Knits" where there is a great tutorial :) There are also a couple of ravelry here and here

I also stumbled across this little beauty this morning!



This wreath is made from lots of little felt rosettes :)
You can find the tutorial to this wreath over at Domestifluff

So what ideas are you crafting this christmas?

Team Edward

that was the name of the yarn swap i put together in the latest round. As promised here are the photos of my end

The whole package: 100g sock yarn dyed with food colouring concentrate, "My Vampire Boyfriend" sock pattern, sheet music to "Bella's Lullaby" sparkly felt heart ornament for the Christmas tree, and a cute tin full with stitch markers.


Close up of yarn


Stitch markers "forbidden fruit" and a special "Renesme's Locket"


The package was very well received and arrived in perfect timing to brighten a dark day so i am super stoked i got it just right :)

Summer???

While it was hot and muggy this weekend it has also been overcast and drizzly :( its now pouring with rain AGAIN but we managed a quick trip to the beach this morning. Poor little Flynn is still not used to the sand!

Run run run as fast as you can,

You cant catch me I'm the GINGERBREAD MAN!

First of all my camera SUX and wont take good photos inside and it has been raining for a week solid. This is the best i could get and i couldn't fit them all in but here is a sample of the gingerbread man decorations i have been making for the bloggy decoration swap i am in :)



Each gingerbread man has been nibbled on hehehehehe
I have 6 of these little dudes who will be running as fast as they can across the country.
I have received 4 out of 6 from my group so far so will post a pic of them all together when they get here :)

Yum! Yum! Yum!

Last night was our knitting nights "swapparooney" for our dessert themed yarn swaps.

As allways the company was great, the food amazing and the yarn to "dye" for!

Noone remembered to take photos of our potluck dinner feast before it was all consummed but believe me it was DELICIOUS!

After dinner it was swap time! I played santa and divied up the goodies.

First up was Sheryls goodie bag!she recieved from Lizzie some beautiful 10ply dyed in shades of Rhuebarb. Lizzie had even tryed using real rhuebarb as the dye but it didnt have qute the strength of colour she was after so she over dyed it with brown and the results were perfect! Lizzie also included some rhuebard seeds and a little bowl in her gifts.


Next up was Julias turn! Sheryl had dyed some sock yarn in beautiful berry parfait colours using acid dyes. Julia also recieved three parfait glasses full of lollies! YUM! Also included were one of Sheryls nifty little WIP ( work in progress) bags, and some berry herbal tea.


I cant remember what order the rest came in as we took photos after but here are the rest!

Sam recieved some beautiful berry themed 8ply in her goodie basket from Julia, along with a hand carved little wooden sheep and some beautiful fibre for her to dye and then spin up!


Lizzie received some scrummy blueberry crumble custard themed yarn with some very thoughtful "weight watchers" goodies and some cute little button stitch markers.


Nyree had a big bluberry bush in her goodie bag from kristy! kristy had dyed some 8ply in yummy berry pastel colours and popped in some stitch markers too.


Clare recieved some "berry mint salad" yarn from kate with some stunning green hand beaded stitch markers and braclet :)


Anthea scored some berry brownie themed yarn from Nyree in stunning rich shades, all wrapped up in one of Sheryls WIP bags and some lovely button stitch markers.


Laura received some mouth watering caramel sock yarn ( with hints of apple)from Sam as well as some caramello chocolate and sweet little stitch markers and something called a "dizz" (if your a spinny person you will know what that is, i dont have a clue! haha).


Kate got some stunningly vibrant berry sock yarn from laura along with some chocolate and spinning "stuff" samples.


Kristy scored the most amazing "kiwifruit cheesecake" sock yarn made by Clare. In her package was also some fat quaters and some sweet buttons.


Then there was my package! Anthea had dyed for me some beautiful rich berry 8ply and included chocolate candles, strawberry sweets, chocolate and the plate my dessert was on was also a gift!


Trudi couldnt make it unfortunately last night but here is the package i made for her. I used "srawberry shortcake" as my theme and dyed some 8ply in rich strawberry and cream colours. I included some bamboo/cotton, strawberry fabric and pink heart buttons to make her baby daughter a lovely summer sundress.


It was amazing that alot of us picked similar themes and yet ALL the dye work was differnt and unique.


Right! now here is all the yarn with the desserts mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm













We cant wait to do it all again and have allready decided in a bit of a lukcy dip swap. We are all going to put in and then take out three words from a hat to base our theme on, and then number the gifts and lucky dip our swap package at the end! will be so much fun :)