Wardrobe Wednesday - ball edition

First time Ive played this but with a theme like that i had to!
I spent my 5th and 6th form years in Lima Peru, and formal dances were HUGE! turning 15 for a Peruvian girl was a HUGE deal and 5 star events were held. i went to ALOT of them. proms also started young and i went to a fair few of those too! I don't have many photos from back then as a flood ruined almost all my photos last year :( but here is what i could salvage.

First formal dance i ever went to
2002, i was 15
with my gorgeous friend Jenni


First "Prom" 2002, i was 16
dress designed my me, modeled off a Shikira outfit hahaha
tie around bikini style, COMPLETELY risque for the company and time lol

6th Form Prom, 2003, i was 17
dress designed my me NO idea what i was thinking
with my gorgeous friend Cynthia

so there you have it! :)

man i wish i could get that body back! lol

pop over here for more blasts from the past

Blogtoberfest Day 31- HAPPY BLOGTOBERFEST

Blogtoberfest Day 31

Today is the last day of Blogtoberfest.
I am so proud of myself that i managed to blog 32 times this month! I only missed two days but had 3 days with two posts so i more than made up for it :)

I have shared with you more about myself, my family, my craft and my business. I have made new friends and gotten to know old friends better.

Ive had fun entering giveaways and having one of my own.

Speaking of giveaways, here is the yarn that i have just dyed and re-hanked up for Joanne, winner of my Blogtoberfest Giveaway.
It is 100g 4ply sock yarn.



Joanne said she liked blues and greens but not necessarily together and this is what i came up with, I've named it "Blogtoberfest" for the occasion hehe.
There are also a couple of other goodies going in the parcel but that will be a surprise ;)

I hope you all had fun reading my posts this month!! it has definitely given me the motivation to blog much more regularly from now on :)

xxx

Blogtoberfest Day 24 - WEEKEND

Blogtoberfest Day 24

OK so i didn't make it on yesterday, was waaaaaaaaaay to busy recovering from the weekend and spending time with my boys who i missed dreadfully ( so much in fact i drove home a day early as i was homesick lol)

I did have a wonderful time though. met a lot of people i have "known" for ages for the first time in real life and caught up with some old friends :)

here's some photos from the weekend

Armageddon Cocktail party


Me and Bill Farmer ( voice of Goofy and Pluto :)

Jerri Manthey ( survivor) and me

Me and Owen Black

Me and the girls with Will Hall

After hours of drinking and dancing, just before bed

Me, Jay, Kylie and Chelsea

I also managed to pick up a few pressies for myself at the expo

A gorgeous hand painted t-shirt, some guitar pick earrings, and True blood Season two on DVD. i also got some cool badges which the kids have already lost and a cool glow in the dark Toy Story poster.

LOVE the earrings, wish if gotten some more!

So there you have it! one wonderful weekend over :)

Blogtoberfest Day 20 - Off to Great Places

Blogtoberfest Day 20

"Today is the Day, I'm off to great places, I'm off and away"

I think i have that quote right, from Dr Seuss's "Oh The Places You'll Go". In about 20 minutes i am off on the first trip away by myself in 6 years! With no husband, and no children. Visiting lots of friends, some Ive never met in person before but feel Ive known forever. I get to party, go for gelato, dress up, sleep in and dance to the beat of my own drum!
i only got my license 2 months ago and yet i am driving 5 hours into Auckland city all by myself! i am terrified and excited at all the possibility's at the same time. I can have the music as loud as i want, stop to pee whenever i like lol and stop and eat whatever i want!!

I have been planning and looking forward to this for about 6 months and today is the day!

I have written blog posts for the 3 days i wont be here so they will auto publish and i will still keep up with Blogtoberfest

So im off! see you on monday evening :)

Blogtoberfest Day 8 Friends :)

Blogtoberfest Day 8

The best type of friends are those who will surprise you with their caring and friendship.
I have had a really hard couple of weeks ( and months) and had a bit of a breakdown at the start of the week.

With less than 24 hours notice my lovely friend Kate was on my doorstep, car loaded up with her two preschoolers and bags of knitting, ready to stay for the week and give me her support.
No she hadn't come form just down the road, she had driven form Auckland to Taranaki! 400km down the road!!!

I am completely blown away with how wonderful Kate is that she would see me suffering and not think twice about packing up her family for a week and coming down to see me. It means more than i can express in words.

Here are some photos taken during the week of our broods:

Morning tea at the park

Ash pushing Mother Dog on the swing

Dancing time!

The goose looking after all the ducklings

I'm gutted we didn't get a photo of me and Kate together!!!
Check out Kates Blog for some more photos of the week :)

Dolce

While our Internet was down I finally finished off sock #2 of my Dolce socks! Just in time for mothers day.



Both the pattern and the hand dyed yarn come from my lovely friend Sheryl over at Shortly Stitches.



I made them super long as i find there is often enough yarn left in a skein to make long ones and the lace looks gorgeous in big long columns.

Mum loved them!

These were pair number 2 for my 10 socks in 2010 challenge but never fear, i have two more pairs on the needles at the moment so i will complete my goal in time!

Plugs

I thought i would blog today about some of the wonderful products and services my friends make/design.

First Up Vivianne
A few weeks ago i blogged about the shawl i made for her as part of a private swap we were doing. In exchange i recieved some GORGEOUS cloth tablewear. Int he set were 6 quilted placemats, 6 quilted coasters and 6 cloth napkins.

Closeup of spiral quilting detail

I am so stoked with the quality of the work and just how pretty they are! i Cant wai tto have people over for dinner so i can give them a whirl :)
Vivianne is an amazing quilter and runs the label "Sew Vivid".

Next is Sam
I was lucky enough to score one of her swift sacks form a blog giveaway she was making and man what a gennious little tool!
From this

To this!


Sheryl is next on the list!
I am in the middle of knitting some socks from Sheryls new pattern "Dolce"

In fact Sheryl dyed this yarn too in our last Naki swap! I have 1 sock down and one to go but it is hibernating while i am manically kniting a super excting secret project for the next couple of days ;)
Dolce is the big sister verion to the Toddler socks version.

Jo is last but CERTAINLY not least
I was lucky enough to be gifted one of Jos beautiful interchangeable needle cases
and stitchmarker holders.


These cases are a knitters best friend!! wiht room for all your tips, cables, pockets for stitch markers or measuring tapes, scissors etc.

Naki Swap #3!!!!

So unfortunately i forgot to take my camera to knitting on tuesday DOH!!! so instead of borrowing photos etc i thought i would just direct you over to my lovely friend Sheryls blog and you can read all about it over there :)

here is the package i put together, themed "Zen Garden"




The three words i oulled out of the hat were "Pray" "Rock Pool" and "Handcrafted" so i chose to use both "Pray" and "Rock Pool" to come up with my theme :)

Im baaaaaack :)

Well I'm back from our holiday and a wonderful one it was!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Swimming in the lake everyday, spa's under the stars every night, pizza from the pizza oven etc BLISS.
I didn't get as much knitting and writing done as i had planned but i have a few things to update you with :)
This shawl hadn't finished blocking by he time we left so i couldn't take photos of it but i manged to do it yesterday :)





I made this for a personal swap with my friend Viv in return i will receive some gorgeous cloth napkins and place mats :) It is the wool i dyed here and made to the Ishbel pattern ( #5!) It is be second entry for 10shalws2010. The pattern will be ceremoniously ripped up and burnt now haha i have had ENOUGH and am branching out to new patterns!

I also whipped up some gorgeous things for a current "RED" swap i am participating in but i cant show those till they have been received and they are currently winging their way across the Tasman :)

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)

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.

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 ;)

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 :)