Raffle Winner!!!

First of all i would like to say a huge thank you to all of you who bought tickets for my shawl raffle. Together we raised $140 for the Red Cross!!!!

I assigned each of the tickets a number and then let Random Org decide the winner!
Congratulations to Jo ( littlejo) you are the winner!!!! The shawl will be winging it way to you tomorrow

xxx

Love for Christchurch

As most of you will know, 2 weeks ago tomorrow, on the 22nd of February, Christchurch city in my home country New Zealand, was hit with a devastating and fatal earthquake. With the city center in ruins and the lives of over 200 lost, it is love, support and strength that we all need to get through this.



While there is nothing most of us can physically to do help the thousands effected, the one thing we can do is donate to the relief fund. I don't have a lot of $$$ to give, but what i do have is time and supplies and blog followers to call out to.

As well as donating 20% of all proceeds from last weeks Red Riding Hood Yarn update, i have been busy knitting a shawl to raffle off and raise more money to Donate to the cause.

I present to you "Love for Christchurch"

Love For Christchurch, is a "Connie" shawl designed by Morag of Vintage Purls .
It is an exclusive yarn Club pattern so not available to purchase until next summer.

It is knit in deliciously soft Touch Yarns wool and works well as a scarf as well as a shawl.
It comes from a smoke and pet free home as is knitted with the utmost love.


I am going to raffle it off with 100% of the money raised going to the Red Cross earthquake appeal. I am happy to send anywhere in the world.

Tickets are $5 each and i will accept bank deposit and paypal payments.

my bank account # is 03 0195 0466088 001
Name H Gordon

If you would like to pay by paypal then leave me your email address and how many tickets and i will send you an invoice.

Please comment below with your name, how many tickets you have bought and a way to contact you if you win :)

I will draw the raffle at 1pm Monday the 14th, so you have a week to enter.

My first ever SOCK CLUB!!

I had saved and saved over the Christmas period to be able to afford my first Vintage Purls Sock Club ( three months of yarn parcels containing exclusive sock yarn, exclusive patterns, and extra goodies). Then the week of sign ups came and the money was needed for other (less selfish) things ( like 5 year old boys birthday presents ;) ) so i was GUTTED!!!!!!!!

I tortured myself by going online during sign ups and left everyone know that yet again i wouldnt be able to participate. The a super dooper AMAZING woman came to my rescue and told me she had paid for my spot and i was in the club! I couldn't believe her generosity! Turns out she had had some awesome news that week herself and wanted to pass on the good will xxxxxxxxxxx

Soooooooooooooooo, last Monday the firs installment arrived and i am IN LOVE.

The pattern is GORGEOUS and the magnets super cute ( there was chocolate too but that is long gone lol) and the yarn OH THE YARN!

it is a gorgeous rich vibrant Burgundy, that will look great on ME hehe.

So all in all i am so so so happy to finally be a part of the special "club" hehe and cant wait for the next two installments!!

Baby knitting!

There has been a bit of baby boom within my friends and family in the past few months. In fact a MAJOUR baby boom! Pretty much all my nearest and dearest are either getting pregnant or about to pop!

So i am delighted to get into some newborn knitting! It is something i haven't done before as i didn't catch the knitting bug until my youngest was already 1.

Oh my gosh there are some gorgeous things out there to make for little bubbas!

I have some very talented friends who have designed a bunch of fabulous patterns.

Julia over at Just One WIP and Kelly at Knit.so.quaint are two of these clever lady's :)

And for that extra special touch to your finished item? Tanja from Watermelish has embellishment charts and Nici from Buttons by Benji will sort you out with gorgeous handmade buttons!

So now, what have i been making??

First up two baby Milo's.
The first one i was in a hurry to wrap up for a last minute baby shower so didn't get pic's ( was a cute cream Owl cabled one) and this one doesn't have a home yet.

it is my first go at doing an embellishment and after a rocky start ( and a tantrum on my part along the lines of "its too hard waaaaa i cant do it, I'm never doing one again" woops!)i soldiered on and i LOVE the finished project!!!!!! i cant wait to try out a lot more designs now :)

Last night i also finished a "Young Einstein" cardy (designed by Julia) for a friend of mine due any day now!


Both are knit in glorious soft merino from Uruguay called 100purewool

will have more baby knits to come soon!!! casting on some longies to match the cardy tonight :D

Summer Holiday :)

Poor ol Blog! Ive been busy busy busy as always and my blog little blog gets neglected :P

We me and my family had a gorgeous 10 day holiday starting on New Years eve. We heading up the Tauranga to see some family we hadn't seen in two years, and to spend some time with Robs grandparents. was really lovely and Tauranga really turned up the heat! phoar!!!!



Next we were back down to Taranaki to stay at a family Bach in Urenui for 5 days. The Bach there is the ULTIMATE old school kiwi Bach and we had a BLAST!!!! i had intended to get some knitting done but instead found myself reading 4 books! hahaha and sitting out on the porch watching the tide come onto the mudflats. Was magic.

view from the porch, in low tide all the water recedes and there is a massive mudflat out there.

The boys had such a great time, fishing, playing in their new tent, walking to the beach, swimming etc

The it was off to the family Bach in Kuratau ( south west side of lake Taupo) for 4 days!!! best Bach ever! Pizza oven, spa pool, huge deck, right at the river mouth and minute walk to the beach, BLISS

BEST SUMMER HOLIDAY EVER!
XXX

Christmas Crafting

Have been so busy making stuff i haven't had time for blogging about it! hehe

Here are some of the decorations i made for other people this year, all embroidered with kids names on the back, except the angel :)

Christmas Giveaway Winner :)

Have been super busy all weekend so haven't gotten around to drawing my giveaway till now but the winner is...............

Comment #48 "kerrykatiecakeskeb43" with her comment: Hmmm.... I think I'd have to choose Sherlock Holmes. Bet he'd be hard to live with though!

Thank you so much for entering!!!!!!!!!!! 246 comments is just insane!!!

I forgot to mention that the yarn is hand dyed by me in my little business "Red Riding Hood Yarns". my business blog can be found here and by facebook page here

I am unconvinced on the merits of the giveaway though, as even though i had 246 people visit and comment, i have only had 2 new followers. So while its great to win giveaways, its pretty obvious that the aim wasn't to discover news blogs now was it? ;)

Christmas Giveaway :)

Well i was too late to join in the sewmamasew bloggers giveaway day, but thought i would have one anyway :)

Up for grabs, some delicious 10ply Luxury hand dyed yarn inspired by Ron Weasley ( my new fictional crush ;) hehehe)

To enter, just leave me a comment telling me who YOUR fictional crush is ;)
I will draw the giveaway on Friday morning (17th) and will happily ship internationally :)

Merry Christmas!!!!!

Bad bad Hanny

yeah, so ive neglicted my blog quite alot lately :(
i am in a bit (!!) of a funk at the moment and not feeling very inspiring or crafty. have been making quite alot of felty christmas stuff, but just not having the energy to upload photos and put on a big festive grin. im just not feeling it. too much stress and crap.

hoping to be back to my usual self soon

Summer yarn Swap first arival!

I was lucky enough to receive my summer yarn swap on Thursday!
Sorry Toshi, that it was taken me this long to post about it. Both me and Hubby have been super sick since Friday. Usually we get bugs one after each other so at least one of us is holding down the fort, but not this time! its amazing what can happen to your house when both adults are incapacitated for 3 days! lol

Here was my kitchen yesterday evening

Dishes (eeeek) yarn would ready to dye, knitting projects, mail, and my yarn swap!!
(No the wine bottles were not the result of self medication lol, they are a collection for a cousin of mines home brew wine)

Here is the gorgeous package Toshi sent me



Some Needlefood sock yarn ( super special as needle food is no longer in business), delicious apricot herbal tea ( my whole pantry smells like apricot when you open it now hehe) some delicious gluten free biscuits ( just like timtams) and some melting oil cubes :)

it was just the perfect package for me thanks so much!
There is still another couple of weeks untill sending, so i look forward to hearing and seeing the parcels as they arrive :)