Time for reflection and relaxation

We are off on holiday in a few hours for two whole week!
Two whole weeks of no Internet
Two whole weeks of no agenda
Two whole weeks of nothing bu family
Two whole weeks of knitting!!!!!!! haha

We are off to the family Bach on lake taupo in Kuratau, i been looking forward to this for ages and can SERIOUSLY do with the down time.

I will be filling my time with reading, knitting and even plan on doing some writing, something i haven't done for a very long time.

The past couple of weeks have seen me and my husband doing some serious reflection on our future and plans etc. Bubba #3 is now on hold for another 2-3 years, untill we have started our travel plans. Baby making was going to be the agenda in a month or so but after some soul searching we have realised this is not the right time. I need to concentrate on getting my mind, sual and body back into shape and being who I want to be. This involves some serious weight loss for me ( already lost 4kgs in the past couple of weeks) and bringing into my life things that make ME happy and that i can do for MYSELF! Singing will be hing on this priority list with a recording session planned in the near future.

This holiday i am going to spend an hour alone each morning, walking along the lake and breathing the fresh air. I am going to sit and write, and knit, and just enjoy spending time with my family.

here is the knitting i am taking with me:


Two pairs of socks ( green and red) and some beautiful Uruguay lace yarn i received in the mail yesterday to make MYSELF a shawl :)



I cast off my second shawl of the year on Wednesday night but haven't had time for a photo shoot so you will have to wait till i get back for photos.

See you in two weeks!!!

Where the Elves play.......................

This was the name of my latest yarn swap i put together.
It was a speciality "sock lovers" swap where we all dyed up sock yarn and associated gifts. The theme was all our own choosing and i wanted to go with something a little magical for the lovely Monique.

The yarn:


"Alorah" the felt Elf

Closeups of embroidery



Elfin charm bracelet


All together:


I also included the patterns for Rivendell socks and A Midsummer nights Dream socks ( in email form as Alorah didn't approve of printing and wasting her forests resources)

Coraline

I was asked to make a Coraline doll for a 4 year olds birthday and here is what i came up with!

It was so much fun designing her and figuring out how to make all the right parts. Usually my dolls are 2D with the exception of hair, but this time i made her double sided, complete with full jacket and hood :) Oh, she is made out of felt

A winner!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you all so much for you support in following my Blog :)
I finished my shawl yesterday and had it blocking over night, shot out for a photo shoot this morning and voila!!!!!!










The winner of this little beauty is faerysarah!!!!!!!!!! I have sent you an email so once i have your details i will get this baby into the post for you :)

The pattern i used was called "Damson" by ysolda, and while it looks stunningly intricate and fancy it was a breeze to knit, so much in fact it was a little boring at the beginning ;) but worth it is the end!!!!!!

And so, it rounds up my first shawl for the year, to go towards 10 Shawls in 2010 :)

Thank You

Thank you all so much for your kind words yesterday, you had me in tears

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Deep and meaningful for a change.

I have been thinking today, as i often do, why i feel the way i feel alot of the time. I don't usually write anything personal o here and leave it up to crafty bits and bobs but i thought i would put this out there and hear your thoughts.

On the outside i am a head strong confident young woman. On the INSIDE that could be further from the truth!

My whole life i have suffered at the hands of bully's. People who were jealous of my family ( we traveled lots and i had a very exciting childhood), people jealous of my confidence, my talents at school etc.

To be truly honest it didn't bother me all that much as a child and young adult. I was comfortable enough in my own skin and had great, strong friendships wherever i went. Sure it got me down now and then but mostly i could deal with it. My mother was my best friend and i all ways had someone i could talk to.

Now as an adult, and mostly since having children ( these went hand hand as i had Ash at 19) , i have lost my self confidence, lost my rubber suit that lets the negativity bounce off.

I feel it stronger than ever. I think about it all the time and it eats me up. People seem to think that because i speak my mind i have no feelings, that somehow they can say whatever they like about me, to me, and it wont touch me ?!?!?!

Ive been beginning to feel lately that i don't belong where i thought i did, that friends arnt really friends, that i must view things very differently to others i thought of as on my wave length.

What have i done to attract these sort of behaviours and attitudes and these sorts of people into my life? Why do i have this suffocating desire to be liked by everyone and be included in everything and not be left out?

For Pete's sake i am 23 years old, not 13 anymore! I KNOW better that to let it eat me up and rule my life............... so why cant i stop it?

Sorry for the big ramble but i needed to get it out and set it free :) Hopefully i can let this go and move on with being HAPPY and confident again.

xxx

making progress...

My Damson shawl for my giveaway is FINALLY coming along. The garter stitch section could not keep my interest so it took me way longer than it should have.
I'm finally onto the interesting bit now though so it shouldn't take me long to finish :)


(that little hand took off with my knitting the second after i took this photo! haha)

remember that all new follower before i finish are into win as well and as an extra incentive, if any of you blog about my giveaway you will get a SECOND entry and double your chances :) so get blogging dudes! (post here to let me know)

Out of the Couldron

I spent the better part of my morning this morning dyeing up some yarn! Ashton is spending the week at his Grannies and Flynn still has a huge sleep ;)
I documented one of the lots with photos and thought i would post a bit of a tutorial for those new to yarn dyeing :)
The method i have been using is a mixture of two different techniques :)

You will need:
Yarn, vinegar, food colouring, big pot, steamer, gloves, tongs ( preferably silicon so they don't snag the wool), bottles or jars for mixing colour, cloths for wiping up.

1. Get your yarn ready for dyeing by winding it into a skein. Some yarns come already in a skein but the yarn i was using today came in a ball, so i wound it out using my handy swift. (ball in the middle so show difference)


2. Next up its time to soak your warn in warm water. ( i added a few drops of green colouring to my sink just because i wanted to make sure i didn't have any white bits in my finished product but this is not necessary)


3. After about 15/20 mins its time to take out the yarn and transfer it to a pot of hot water with liberal vinegar poured in ( i used half a bottle)


4. Turn the element onto medium and its time to mix up your colours! I wanted to make varying shades of green yarn so i used green and blue food colouring. I started by filling a bottle with half warm water and some more vinegar and a few drops (10ish) or green food colouring.


5. Using the tongs, lift up sections of the yarn and squeeze the dye directly onto the yarn. Repeat all over the skein.


6. Then i add significantly more dye to the bottle and top up with a bit more water and vinegar ( this makes a darker shade of the same colour). Repeat step 5 with the new shade, lifting different sections of yarn up.


7. This time i added more green and a little bit of blue to get a slightly different colour and shade, repeat step 5 again.


8. After you have finished with the dark colour leave it to stand for 5 or so minutes and then lift up and drain most of the water off and transfer into the steamer.


9. Cover and steam for about half an hour, turning the yarn over every 5 minutes or so. Once the water runs clear when you lift it up and turn its time to rinse! transfer yarn into the sink and rinse with HOT water, slowly turning down the temperature to cold. because I had used to much colour in this dye lot it took along time for the yarn to rinse clear, in fact i had to add some more vinegar and steam for another 15 minutes or so. This is fine, you jut need to make sure it runs clear of your yarn will leak colour once it is washed.


10. Ring the rinsed yarn in a towel to take out excess moisture and then hang out to dry :) Once dry i place back on my swift and wind into a ball. I re-wound one of the balls into a skein again ( slightly different length) to show how great the colours look! i always gift hand dyed yarn in a skein as i much prefer how it looks.


and there you have it! Gorgeous hand dyed yarn!!!!!!!!!!!!! I actually did two other colourways today but as they are for swaps i cant show them for a couple of weeks yet ( but they are AWESOME!)

This green yarn is destined to become an Ishbel shawl for my lovely friend Viv as a personal swap for some cloth napkins and place mats.

My Greedy List

The concept of a greedy list is that it is a list of all your deepest materialistic desires. material things that you LOVE and wished you had in your possession. They can be used purely for day dreaming about or a great place for people to look on special occasions such as birthday etc for the perfect gift!

My Greedy List

* A complete set of Knit Pro interchangeable needles in nickle


* A Namste "Zuma" bag in Red and matching buddy case in Eggplant


* A closet full of beautiful bohemian dresses to wear everyday


* One of Jos beautiful needle cases and stitch marker holders


* "Sock Innovation" sock pattern book by Cookie A


*Some gorgeous "Zauberball" yarn


*A gold and red themed Pandora bracelet


* The complete book sets of "Sookie Stackhouse" and "Twilight" ( have been borrowing the twilight books and reading sookie via E-book but would LOVE to have them in book form)


hmmmm almost everything is knitting related hahahahahahahahahaha

so whst pn your greedy list?

FINALLY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Finally, my socks are DONE!!!!

These were the first ever socks i cast on and started but half way through the first i realised i had cast on too few stitches, and then they were abandoned while i made gifts etc. After my Christmas knitting was done and dusted i cracked them out again and finally finished them today!
The fit is the best yet for my feet so casting on less stitches turned out to be a great idea! The yarn is Vintage purls "Cabaret" and my fav colourway ever!









So no it is onwads and upwards with my "10 in 2010" projects!

2010 - My year of challenges.

Happy New Year everyone!!!!!!!!!! I didn't make it on yesterday as i nursed a massive hang over but i am feeling much more human today :)

2010 is going to be a busy year!
I have committed myself to a few knitting challenges this year and cant wait to get started!

First up: Knit 10 shawls
Here are my picks so far (this will probably change as i like to knit a pattern more than once)
*Ishbel for Viv (last Ishbel for me for a while haha)
*Hibiscus shawl
*Herbivore
*Juno Regina stole and wrap
*Gail (aka Nightsongs)
*Traveling woman
*Damson (the pattern Ive chosen for my giveaway)
*Woodland shawl
*Aphrodite
*Print o' the waves stole
*Aestlight

Also: Knit 10 pairs of socks
I am finding it increasingly difficult to narrow down my list of socks but here are my favs

*twinkleberry
*nutkin
*spring forward
*Baudelaire
*blackrose
*flaming desire
*up,up and away
*june 09 solid mystery
*vihtori
*midsummer nights dream
*marlene
*nebula
*true love
*duckies
*hayrick
*calloway
*my vampire boyfriend
*rick
*express lane

How on earth i am going to chose or prioritize i have no idea!!!!!!!!!!!! haha

Also on my to do list is to make each of the boys a winter jersey/jacket, make myself a full sized knit and the design my own pattern ( of what im not sure yet).