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thanks to the very talented teri from mermaids on whose blog i found it :)

i am no knitter

unfortunately :(

i wish i was. some day i'll take the time to watch some youtube movies and teach myself how to do it properly - i think my main problem is how i hold the needles and yarn.

anyway, despite not being a knitter i do enjoy doing it. knitting is less forgiving of people who aren't good at following instructions though... that's why i generally sew or crochet lol

it's made worse by the fact that i only knit at night after the kids are in bed, when i'm tired and not good at concentrating, and wanting to go to bed myself!

i started a project for emelia and i am really enjoying it so far - except for the errors! ack! it's a lacy shrug and while the lace pattern is easy to do it's also easy to stuff up (if geoff talks to me for instance lol) and i honestly have NO idea how to undo it because of the way the lace is made lol. i just messed up the rib cuffs because i thought i'd dropped some stitches, picked them up, and then discovered that i hadn't dropped them at all!! aaagh!!

anyway, i will keep soldiering on...

by the way, i have started keeping track of my projects over at ravelry if you're a member there :)

6 things meme

thanks S :)

1. Link to the person who “tagged” you.
2. Post the rules on your blog.
3. Write six random things about yourself.
4. Tag six people at the end of your post.
5. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
6. Let the tagger know your entry is up.

1. S is amazing - she is not only very well respected at her job, which she does full time (by hours if not technically) but she is also a fabulous mum to 3 and another on the way, as well as trying for the simple life and doing things like growing her own vegies, keeping chooks etc etc

2. see above lol

3. (1) at the moment i wish my children would all run away for a good half hour. i am tired and want some quiet time to myself lol
(2) i get dyshydrotic excema when i'm stressed, mostly only my hands, but sometimes on my toes or elbows. i usually don't notice it until i've scratched enough to be annoying.
(3) i have no willpower
(4) i spent the morning at ryan's preschool for the first time. i have much admiration for preschool teachers lol i was exhausted and i didn't even do much!
(5) i'm wondering how old i'll be when i feel my nose stud is no longer appropriate?

4. i tag
Mands, who is a single mum to 2 gorgeous girls and still finds time to quilt!
Bec, who i just bought some yummy soap from and have forgotten to let her know it's arrived
joey, who only learned to knit a year or two ago and is incredible with the needles!
and 3 women who make the most gorgeous kids clothes for sale - ingrid, milly and tina - go check them out!

5. will have to do this over the weekend - gotta go make dinner!

6. will do :D

rory's hat finally finished!!

it just barely fits :-0 (my kids have such huge heads lol)

i worked out the issue with the ottobre pattern and it's mainly that it tells you to start each row with 3 chain and count that as a double (treble) crochet - but that's actually incorrect, you shouldn't count it as part (on most rows lol)

the new and the old...

well i managed to get one page done before i needed to finish (it's above) - and i found a whole heap of old pages needing to go into albums, including a few which i think i have never photographed before! i wanted to share my two faves of my gorgeous little boy (who is now 5!), they're down below :)

some card making....

last month i went to my first stampin up party - thanks to hannah and nicola! i bought just a few basics to make birthday cards so that when we need them we can quickly make them instead of having to spend $5+ on buying them!!!

here was my first attempt this morning - i would have kept playing with it but it was for Hannah and she arrived to drop some stuff off before i had a chance to do anymore lol

considering colour combinations

heights (early june)

A 87cm
E 105.5cm
R 112

aaagh that ottobre hat!

yes, i am now making rory one (same wool, different colourway) and i have made the same mistake somehow as last time - i am up to row 8 or 9 and it's pulling in too tight. problem is i can't remember what i worked out last time. perhaps it was that i didn't count the chain 3 at the start of each row as a dc even though the pattern says to. whatever i've done it's not easily worked out because i've followed the pattern perfectly.

now i really wish i had written my own version like i thought i should...

AT LAST !!! my WIP is finished!!

i lost count of how many times i had to undo this and start again, at least 8. oh my goodness it was so frustrating. i'm not sure if it was me and my inability to read patterns properly, or the ottobre instructions...

anyway, this is the ottobre pattern i used here

i am now making some little flowers to go on it, pattern here

and i have to say thank goodness for youtube for converting US crochet to australian!!!

overlocker course update

i have been enjoying it - when i make it!

i missed one week as g went to see the chaser show. i missed another 2 weeks because i wasn't well and just couldn't face going.

i went this week but achieved very little (still not well) and there is only one week to go.

i have really enjoyed it and have learned a lot. i never realised there was so much you could do with your overlocker!! i meant to leave the poor neglected thing in for a service and forgot. will have to do it next week.

we are supposed to pick a project to do during the course. a pillow was suggested but i just wasn't all that interested. in the end i picked this pattern and will make it for emelia from a chocolate brown uncut cord for the dress and a not-quite mint green for the shirt and leggings.


obviously it will take longer than 2 hours for me to make it, but i'm hoping to attend some of their 'sew what you like classes'. the teacher has told me she will help me to make new swimmers (with underwires) and bras for myself!! OMG i need new swimmers desperately but larger sizes with underwire are $200+ !!!! and i also need new bras even more desperately (all my 'new' not cheap bras are falling apart despite already having been repaired :()

they have a deal where you can attend 8 of these sewing 'classes' for $135, you get help on whatever you need and you don't need to attend every week, just when it suits. sounds great :)

another meme tag...

from mermaids

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?

i had met geoff about 9 months before and was waiting on the results of my interview for a job over here in canberra where he was living. (they took 3 months to get back to me, i should have known they were going to be awful employers lol). i was living in tumut, out on my own for the first time and loving it. renting a gorgeous heritage flat from my boss. was enjoying my job though i had apparently had a falling out with the girls at work - i only knew as they all stopped talking to me :-0 in august 2008 i finally moved to canberra and moved in with geoff just until i found another housemate (heh)

2. What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):

i'll say tomorrow as today is nearly over.

* bake something quick and easy for a morning tea playdate

* fold some washing, the pile is monstrous

* put the F&V from organic express away in tupperware in teh fridge

* make dinner

3. Snacks I enjoy:

golden delicious apples (now out of season, sob), little mandarins, soft cheese on crackers, cake of most kinds, coles brand stem ginger cookies

4. Things I would do if I were a billionaire:

hire a cleaner and a nanny, hmmm maybe a housekeeper who did it all. put this house on a bigger block (love my house but the yard's too small), buy an embroidery machine, travel overseas regularly, give gifts to family, plan a spectacular 40th birthday, have massages every week!

5. Places I have lived:

tumut, gilgandra, kempsey, queanbeyan - nsw

canberra - act

milan - italy

northwood - uk

vermont - usa

6. Jobs I have had:

babysitter

waitress (hopeless lol)

fairy floss maker!

canteen hand

nanny

teacher

camp counselor

disability support worker

manager

project officer

and currently policy officer

7. 6 Peeps I would like to know more about (in no particular order)

whoever would like to do it - just let me know you have!

i've been tagged again!

The Crone has tagged me!

The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 6 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog.
Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
i'd been going tout with dh for about 6-9 months and was just a few months away from moving to canberra to be with him.

2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today (not in any particular order):
fold washing *sigh*
practice my overlocker skills
make a shirt or skirt for emelia
send g to canberra theatre to buy tickets for the chaser's show
survive my children, GIVE ME STRENGTH

3) Snacks I enjoy:
golden delicious apples
brie / camembert cheeses with crackers and chilli jam
slices and cakes (aagh)
scones with jam and cream

4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
travel o/s regularly
buy a beach house
pay off my mortgage and buy a house on more land
get a cleaner too LOL

5) Places I have lived:
canberra, wagga wagga, milan, london (northwood), vermont

quick fleece hats

just found this link on another blog, i'll definitely be having a go at these because we always tend to need 2-3 hats per child - as at least one always seems to end up at daycare ...

http://www.marthastewart.com/portal/site/mslo/menuitem.3a0656639de62ad593598e10d373a0a0/?vgnextoid=14ce76ecfd22f010VgnVCM1000003d370a0aRCRD&autonomy_kw=fleece%20hat&rsc=header_1

the secret to my addiction...

a few weeks ago someone on eb mentioned bloglines... suddenly i didn't have to miss posts because clicking all my links was too tedious and time consuming to do, or miss blogs because adding them to my list took ages too.

now i have a few (*cough* nearly 100 *cough*) blogs subscribed to and bloglines tells me when there are new posts so i know to go straight to them. i can comment immediately and my only problem is that i keep adding new blogs, and i see so many recipes i have trouble remembering where i saw one i want to make LOL

do yourself a favour and check it out http://www.bloglines.com/

and if anyone knows why i am all set on being public subscriber and yet i never show up as public i'd love to know!!!

ottobre WOW!

i have jsut discovered someone on flickr who is totally into ottobre and i am just wow at what she has made - love the colours and fabrics, she's into dyeing and fancy stitching, she has an embroidery machine (how jealous am i??? *sob*) OMG! she is amazing!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/77223848@N00/

WIP

last weekend i got the urge to crochet.

so when i went to lincraft i bought a ball of wool (a bit tricky as i was following an ottobre pattern and it talked about metres per 100g and i couldn't find any particularly close!) thank goodness for youtube as the instructions are in american crochet terms LOL

it's going slowly as i just do a row or two per night (i have discovered i can actually crochet while i read on the puter, wooh lol) and i had to undo 3-4 rows last night as i realised that i had messed up half a row really badly. anyway, here's a teaser...


ETA: aaaagh i think i must have stuffed it up somehow, it is not looking at all like it's supposed to - and i have no idea how, i thought i'd done really well at following directions !! OMG i am sooooo bad at following instructions, i just cannot do it lol

overlocker student

tonight was the first night of my 8 week overlocker class. we didn't do a lot tonight (in fact nothing lol) but talked a lot and had some little demos (the teacher spent a lot of time helping some of the people who had 10-20 year old overlockers which hadn't been used in all that time!!!) as mine's a janome and the newer (cheaper lol) version of 2 of the others i didn't get any extra help.

we get to pick our project though so i'm going to do covers for my machines, just to keep the dust off...

the verdict is in...

i stuffed up the invisible zipper! it's totally visible LOL i think i should have done it my way instead of tryign to do it the ottobre way with a non-functioning brain!!!! LOL

Such a Princess!

Emelia's princess dress is nearly done :) i just need to do the zipper - an invisible one (which i have never used / done before so am a little nervous lol)

i ended up using a different pattern - the new Ottobre arrived and Emelia (who took it to bed with her two nights in a row lol) fell in love with this dress (3/2008, design 19)


i thought chances were the ottobre dress would probably be easier than the simplicity so went with it - so far it has been easy, even though i did stuff up the side seams of the bodice (but i wasn't feeling at all well yesterday so i have a good excuse)

i had to go out this morning to buy the zipper so i bought some ribbon to trim it with too - now i wish i could have trimmed the bodice with some too instead of my pathetic top stitching! i might try later if i get a chance, at least it won't be as fiddly as the ribbon on the bottom to sew straight as i'll have the top stitching line to follow :)

i have to put in a disclaimer too - i did NOT choose the fabric! it is totally not my taste in colours lol emelia picked it from mum's stash ;p i think it qualifies as retro as it's no doubt late 80's lol

here's the princess (with her new princess jiffies, what a blast from the past they are lol)

PS: as it's practically winter here now she'll be wearing leggings and a long sleeve shirt under it ;)
i saw a dress with similar sleeves in myer, made out of fine cord and with decorative stitching so if i can find anything suitable in my stash i'm going to have a go at making this as a winter dress, probably shorter.
PPS: this is a 104 and emelia is 3.5y and wears a size 4-5 top and size 4 bottoms