Category Archives: Family

Beach Weather. Briefly.

Posted on February 19, 2012 | 10 Comments

Last summer we made several trips to the coast (a couple of hours away) to spend the day swimming, eating ice creams and fish and chips and building sand castles. January and February offered up endless weekends with suitable weather.

This year, it’s all downpours, dark skies and wind. The rain is fabulous, but we have been robbed of a bit of real beach weather. It was for that reason I didn’t take bathers with me to the beach this weekend when my sister and I went to visit our parents. I thought there’d be no point. My sister and I, with Miss Alice, left Canberra feeling sure that we’d not packed enough warm clothes.

We were wrong. Alice, who had the good sense to pack her bathers, spent most of Saturday afternoon like this.

She was swimming at Sandy Point, near our parents’ house, with cousin Willem and as I stood on the sand cheering them on in the shallows, I wished so much I’d come prepared. I haven’t been swimming once this summer. Not even a bit! I think I really lucked out on getting the most out of the afternoon.

It was a humid afternoon. Away from the shady table where we’d eaten, the sun was bright and the air sticky. I asked Willem how the water was and he said with absolute certainty, ‘it’s wonderful!’

I’m sure. Rub it in, dude, rub it in.

Such joy and such bravery a year on from her first beach trip where the water was fun, but just a bit scary.

All I could do was enjoy the view.

And after a busy weekend, there was only one thing left to do. Break the journey in Braidwood with a cupcake after a big, long sleep.

The great thing about road trips with my sister is that she prefers to drive, while I prefer to knit and you know, in a two and half hour trip, you can really get a lot of sock knitting done. I’ll have another pair off the needles in a matter of days!

Bells

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Posted in Family, travel

Olearia

Posted on February 6, 2012 | 14 Comments

This project wasn’t supposed to happen. Initially when I set out to make something from a skein of Cascade Ultra Pima, it was going to be a Dolphin Bay top for Alice. The less said about the frustrations I experienced with that piece the better, although ripping it out late on a Friday night when I was tired and had half a bottle of wine in me was probably ill-judged. I should make those sorts of decisions in daylight with a clearer head. Anyway, moving on.

When I ripped it out and cast on another Tikki pattern for Alice, I breathed a sigh of relief. That woman knows how to write a pattern. This time I chose Olearia, which can be knit as a cardigan or a shrug. I wasn’t sure about yardage issues so I chose a shrug. A week later, it was done. I had enough to knit a full cardigan but am infinitely happier at this point with a little cropped piece. It’s perfect for this not so warm summer.

She wore it all day Saturday, to the markets, at morning tea with friends and then to the roller derby in the evening and it I decided that shrugs are very practical.

Jeans, t-shirt, shrug in cotton for a little weather protection – it’s all perfect. Now if I could just make her hair stay up instead of slipping out of whatever clips or bands I put around it, I’d be happier. That fringe drives us all crazy but while it’s growing out, it’s really hard to manage.

It’s a great fit all over, as you can see from this photo from the back. It sits well no matter what she’s doing. I’m eyeing off my cotton collection wondering how long until I start a new one!

The inevitable chocolate face shot!

And then come winter I may well make the full cardigan version because, as I’ve said before in one way or another, toddler knits are like chips. You can’t stop at one and they’re great bite sized projects.

Better still was that after a day of getting chocolate and jam all over it, being cotton I threw it in the wash and hung it in the sun and it was dry and ready to wear again the next day. I love the wool or alpaca knits I’ve done for her, but I do love that the cotton ones are so easy care.

Having said I’m itching to cast on a new one for her, in truth I’m focusing on knits for me for a little while before some gifts have to be done. I think it’s time I had a new cardigan!

Bells

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Posted in Family, FO2012, Knitting

It’s raining, it’s pouring

Posted on February 3, 2012 | 16 Comments

We’re setting into a period of steady rain here, and for summer it’s oddly cold (I am wearing a knitted cardigan today, in February. Amazing!). All i want to be doing right now is sitting at home, rain outside, working on finishing a little shrug I’m making for Alice so that I can start swatching for something new for me.

Here’s the shrug in progress. It should be finished, washed and drying by tomorrow morning which is handy because Alice is spending the weekend with us.

Like RoseRed and others I’m stockpiling yarn and ideas for the cardigans I want to knit for winter. I’m itching to get stuck in. Hours have been devoted in recent weeks to matching yarn and patterns. There are cardigans’ worth of yarn I’ve had set aside for some time and I’m going to use them, instead of buying anything new. Revolutionary idea, right?

My top five patterns at the moment, receiving heavy consideration are Seamair by Amy Herzog, Blair by Thaya Preece, Driven by Veera Välimäki, Iced by Carol Feller and Estelle by Linden Down. In a way I think I have to stop looking for Winter 2012 patterns and just pick one and start because I keep finding new ideas and it’s quite paralyising.

However, just because it’s cold and wet this week, doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way and I’m sure there’s some summer left to be had, so I’ve got some time to think.

I’ll leave you with something that’s thrilling me in my garden at the moment. My sunflowers. Their big, happy faces (which are under constant threat by the cockatoos that sit over head waiting for them to be ripe) are such a wonderful addition to my garden. I think, like daffodils in spring, I must always have sunflowers in summer.

Almost the end of the week. It can’t come soon enough.

Bells

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Posted in Family, Garden, Knitting, Uncategorized

Sunshine Dress

Posted on January 22, 2012 | 23 Comments

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I made two matching pinny style dresses – one for Alice and one for the daughter of a friend.

Here’s how they were just after I finished them.

I’m told the Queensland based recipient of one of them has started calling it her Sunshine Dress and so the name stuck.

Here’s Alice in hers, taken yesterday morning in front of my zucchini patch.

Blondes in yellow! Such a great combination. I love it! The dress is reversible but this is the side she chose to wear on our outings yesterday.

Once again, it’s the same pattern I’ve used about half a dozen times for Alice – the Lizzy Pinny. Always a winner. I’ve been making them for about 18 months now so for fun, here’s Alice in the first one I made for her in September 2010, back when I was a total newbie.

Such a cutie. So little. I’m totally ready to move on to slightly more complex dress patterns, but this one is just such a winner with its simplicity as a sun dress. She gets so much wear out of them and I love choosing which fabrics work for a reversible pattern. I don’t think this will be my last!

Bells

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Posted in Family, Garden, Sewing

Creative January

Posted on January 15, 2012 | 17 Comments

January is cold so far. This is an odd sentence. In this part of the world, it’s meant to be hot, scorchingly so. But it’s not. While this is brilliant for knitting and quilting, it’s not so great for the garden. Growth is slow, ripening almost non-existent.

I’m consoling myself, both on the weather front and the fact that I’m back at work, with knitting and sewing. How comforting it is to even write that sentence. There are so many circumstances in life where that’s a fitting sentence.

Anyway, life goes on and in the absence of any finished knitting to show you, I thought I’d share some recent photos. You’ve probably seen most of them if you’re on facebook or instagram. For those of you who aren’t, here’s a tour of all things creative in my world right now.

I made two little matching reversible pinny dresses for Alice and another little girl I know. Alice hasn’t received hers yet but will have it by the end of the week.

I needed to make these to restore my faith in my sewing skills, which have suffered a bit lately. This worked.

I’ve discovered the marvel that is Cascade Ultra Pima. It’s lush and highly addictive cotton and I can’t get enough of it. This is becoming something for Alice (big surprise there).

I’m in the grip of a cast-on frenzy at the moment (well, relatively speaking. I’ve not started too many new things, but there are a few). This gorgeous yarn (spun by 1FunkyKnitWit Margarita) is becoming a Hitchhiker scarf. It’s a match made in heaven.

See? It’s gorgeous.

I’ve nurtured my first artichoke bloom. I have grown them for the first time and rather than eating them, decided I wanted to see how they flowered, because I knew it’d be spectacular. Look!

And I’m hand quilting Alice’s ~~Christmas~~ birthday quilt.

I still can’t believe I’m hand quilting. This came as a shock. Like I’ve said before, never say never. I’d like to finish this soon because there’s a new quilt in the pipeline and my mum is making it too. She’ll leave me far behind if I don’t get a wriggle on.

So that’s January. As always, never enough hours in the day for it all. I hope you’re feeling busy and productive in your creative life too.

Bells

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Posted in Family, Garden, Knitting, Quilting, Sewing

Knits for Little People in 2011

Posted on January 4, 2012 | 10 Comments

Continuing on in the series outlining what I made in 2011, I’ve gathered together all the knits I made for little people in 2011.

Most were of course were for Alice – because little girl knits are just the best. I made only one for Willem which, although a sizeable and significant project, looks rather lonely. I’ve got plans for him this year and they’re all exciting!

1. alice in tshirt, 2. In Threes Cardigan, 3. Alice in her new purple cardigan, 4. jane cardigan 2, 5. Alice’s Acacia top, 6. Willem’s Jacket, 7. Baby Surprise Jacket, 8. Blue and Silver Baby Surprise Jacket, 9. Alice’s Swirly Hat, 10. headband – close, 11. acacia3, 12. Alice. Purple Cardigan. AFP Park

I absolutely loved making two Baby Surprise Jackets, almost back to back.

After years of meaning to get around to them, dressing two lovely newborns in them was just so special.

The red one in particular was extra special because it went to a baby I didn’t know, requested by a grandfather who felt his first grandchild should have something handmade – a job that would have been undertaken by his late mother. That was lovely.

My favourite Alice knit was the In Threes Cardigan.

It came together so beautifully, and I love that I made it from leftovers from Willem’s Alex Jacket. It made them even more connected.

There is a world of fabulous patterns for little people out there – and before I knitted extensively for children I really didn’t know how satisfying it could be. When Alice shows up at our house with her bag for the weekend and packed inside are garments I made, it makes me smile like a lunatic to dress her in them in the morning and watch her run around the yard or markets in something that came off my needles.

There will be more of this in 2012. I’m absolutely certain of it.

Bells

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Posted in Family, Finished Objects 2011, Knitting, Reflections

Spring Garden Tee

Posted on December 28, 2011 | 13 Comments

In my seemingly endless quest for cute summer garments for Alice, I made a sweet little top for her called Spring Garden Tee. I hadn’t intended for it to be her Christmas present but when it became clear I wouldn’t have her quilt done on time, it became her gift along with some books.

Here she is, chilling out at Christmas in her Spring Garden Tee. I love, love love the little lace cap sleeves!

It’s made from Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply cotton in a colour called Daffodil. When I did a Bendigo order a while ago, I gave Sean the colour card and told him to choose something for Alice. Daffodil was his choice and it’s a good one. Yellow (or lello as she calls it!) works!

It’s a nice little pattern, by Alana Dakos. Slightly oddly written in that she has you put the sleeves on waste yarn to be bound off at the end. At the suggestion of a friend who had just made it for her daughter, I bound off the sleeves and kept going with the body. It seems utterly pointless to hold off the finishing of the sleeve caps until the end.

Here’s a shot of her wearing it standing up. We got her to pose with Willem (or Lillem!) during our Christmas festivities. They had lots of fun.

And another one.

I love that this top is both pretty and practical. Not to mention easy care. I think I’ll whip up another one fairly soon, in a different colour, because I can see it getting a lot of wear. I might make the next one a little longer though since she’s bound to shoot up like a weed over summer.

I’m pretty sure this is my last finished piece for the year. I’ve spent the last couple of days faffing around with starting stuff, ripping pieces out that I know I won’t finish and mulling over where my knitting will go in 2012. It’s always so fun to plan and wonder where I’ll be a year from now.

Bells

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Posted in Christmas, Family, Finished Objects 2011, Knitting

Karise

Posted on December 27, 2011 | 17 Comments

Now that all the Christmas knitting has been given to recipients, I can of course start showing what I made. First cab off the rank is the shawl I made for my sister, Adele. I’m awfully pleased with it and so I think is she! Here it is.

We didn’t plan on having her dress and shawl match but she arrived on Christmas day wearing the dress so we quickly set about taking the photos. Perfect!

The pattern is Karise and it’s a design by Kariebookish, a Dane who lives in Scotland. Isn’t it lovely? It’s made from a single skein of Cascade Heritage Silk, a lush and lovely yarn which was procured for me by a friend in Brisbane from Tangled Yarns. The colour is Purple Hyacinth.

I don’t think Adele knew what I was making for her, although she tells me she did see reference to it on my twitter feed at some point (spying!! Who knew!?) but I did ask her a while back what colour she was fond of wearing at the moment. She said purple.

So purple was what she got. With beads. I knew she’d love some extra bling.

They’re just little glass seed beads (size 6), lined with silver. Pretty and so fun to work with. I love beaded knitting, I’ve decided. There will be more of it!

I got to see Adele wearing it over Christmas. It was cool here in the evenings (and hardly warmer during the day) and so it got plenty of wear. It gave my mum and idea and she asked for a shawl to wear too. So out come the box of shawls and all three of us sat around the table on the deck facing the chill in the air with luxury yarns draped over our shoulders.

This was a lovely shawl to knit. The stocking stitch centre was soon over and the good stuff began with the pretty lace pattern and the beading. That too was over quickly. I think it all took about three weeks at most, possibly less. I did an extra repeat of the first chart and could have done more. There’s plenty of yarn left.

I need a shawl for myself made of Cascade Heritage Silk. It’s so soft and lovely.

Bells

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Posted in Christmas, Family, Finished Objects 2011, Knitting

Christmas Baking

Posted on December 24, 2011 | 18 Comments

A few days ago, the festival of Christmas baking kicked off here. This year I focused on shortbread, having never made it before. It was fun and easy and the results have been popular.

I gave these shortbread stars as a gift on Thursday.

Later I made a bunch of other shapes – trees, bells (heh!) and more stars. Some of them, I hung on the tree. I want Alice and Willem to arrive and know they can nibble things hanging on the tree. That will be fun.

Speaking of Alice and Willem, a friend gave me an Ikea Gingerbread House kit saying it would be fun to make it for Alice. As I’ll have both of them here on Boxing Day, I thought they could share it/demolish it together.

But fun is perhaps not the word I’d choose to describe the cursing and carrying on that happened when I spent nearly two hours trying to get the bloody thing to stick together. I think my mixture was too thin, the afternoon too warm, my hands not steady enough – or something. Either way, with Sean’s help and some strategically placed glasses to hold the walls in place, we got there.

Then we decorated it. By then I was so over it I perhaps didn’t take the care I could have and slapped lollies on any where they would stick (see above comment about the icing being too thin….).

Here is what someone has amusingly described as my ‘renovator’s delight’ of a Gingerbread House. I share it because, well, it’s funny. Alice and Willem will love it (even if mine is not up to the standard Willem has become accustomed to from his mother!).

I’m reliably informed that not everyone gets them perfect first go. If I’m lucky maybe by the tenth I’ll make something passable. You do it for the love, right, and because you want to send your nieces and nephews home fuelled by sugar. Yes, that’s it.

Anyway, merry christmas everyone. It’s been a fun year and I’ve loved the sharing and the friendships. I’m on leave for a few weeks, mainly staying at home and spending as much time as possible doing this.

Knit, drink and be merry!
Bells
xo

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Posted in Christmas, Family, Food

Alice’s Quilt – a heartbreaking work of not so staggering genius*

Posted on December 18, 2011 | 26 Comments

*Apologies to Dave Eggers for stealing and abusing the title of your book (which bored me silly!).

Remember the quilt I started making for Alice for Christmas? The top of it was beautiful. It looked like this.

When it came time to actually quilt it, I got nervous. I know why. The other quilting projects I’d worked on were just for me. They were fun. I was new. I was learning. I went in with an attitude that spoke of not caring if I messed it up because I was just mucking around.

With Alice’s quilt, I was not mucking around. I was serious. And I felt serious. I remember calling my mum the morning I was going to start saying ‘I think I’m over-thinking this. I feel so nervous.’

And you know what? Those nerves didn’t help. Look what happened to the strip I’d sewn into the back.

Staggeringly bad warping. I did everything right. I pinned the quilt heavily, I did all that taping the back to the floor and smoothing it out that you’re supposed to do but nothing worked. I knew as I started sewing those straight lines that it was wrong, wrong, wrong.

The front looked nice.

But even though Alice is not yet three, and has nothing like an eye for perfection, I just knew I couldn’t live with the quilt with that horrid warping. I hope she’ll have this quilt for a long time – I don’t want it to be poorly made. I’m a newbie. It won’t be great. But it really shouldn’t be that bad either.

So I sulked for about a week (and I did really sulk – one day my mum asked me what was wrong and I said I was feeling down and we worked out that this bloody quilt was depressing the crap out of me).

The one night I sat down and begun unpicking the dozen or more lines I’d worked down the centre of the quilt.

Such a big job. It took me about three evenings. I figured that really, if she is to have this quilt for a long time, what’s a few evenings of ripping out? One day I can tell her I did that and maybe she’ll smile and think I’m crazy but it’s ok.

One night I got over zealous with the seam ripper and I nicked the quilt and there’s a hole but I’m going to applique or patch the hole and it’ll be ok.

Honestly the day this quilt is done I will feel like I’ve climbed Kilamajaro. It’s not even that big, as far as quilts go, but it’s been painful. I’m determined not to throw it in a cupboard and forget about it though I realise many would. I just can’t. I will just hate myself.

If anyone who’s got a clue can advise me how to avoid such hideous warping again, I’d be so pleased. One thing I’m doing is getting rid of the bamboo batting I was using. It’s way too slippery. I’ve bought some cotton/wool batting and I hope it’ll be better.

Oh and another thing? It’s no longer Alice’s Christmas quilt. She didn’t know it was coming so I’m not going to kill myself getting it done. I’ve knitted her something and bought her some books. That’ll be fine. Life’s too short to live with that kind of stress.

Bells

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Posted in Family, Quilting, Sewing

Tagged dave eggers, quilting projects