Long Lacy Shawl

This has taken me a couple of months to finish, but I'm really happy with the end result. As well as being a nice shawl, it's light enough that I can scrunch it up and use it as a scarf.


The pattern is the Long Open Shawl and once I got into it, it was easy to memorize.

WIP Wednesday: scrap blanket

This is going to be a WIP for a long time, as I'm just adding scraps to it every now and then. I haven't decided yet if I want every flower to be in a different yarn or double up on some. I'm imagining the finished project (eventually) as a riot of different coloured flowers.



The pattern is the Cyanne blanket. I'm going to be good and keep weaving in the ends as I go (maybe)!

Ballet Dinosaur

I got asked to make this for a little girl who likes dinosaurs, and pink and I'm really happy with the finished project (especially the tutu, which was some fantastic lace I found at Lincraft).

I modified this dragon pattern to make it more dinosaury and it worked really well!

Hat and Scarf Set

It's one of my nieces birthday soon (her first one in Australia), so what better to celebrate the 'wonderful' weather in Melbourne (they're from the UK) than a beanie and scarf, although they're fairly light ones.



The beanie is the Divine Hat which is a lovely pattern that I've been looking for an excuse to make.



The scarf is the Double Drop Stitch Scarf which was a pretty quick knit and the drop stitches were a bit of fun to do.

Both were made with Aria by Lang Yarns. The beanie would have taken one night and the scarf maybe two or three.

Reading material request

If I ask for help I should offer a prize, hey?

I read quite a lot but at the moment when I go into a bookshop or library or op shop I've been a bit 'meh' with the book selections. I'm not sure if it's just that there are too many books and I'm paralysed by choice but I need some help with book selections.

I tend to like fantasy but will definitely branch out and many of my favourite books are in other genres. Lately I've been loaned a lot of Tamora Pierce/Brian Jacques books so I'm a little over young adult/teen fiction. That said I'm planning to read Twilight, but I'm saving it for when I go to New Zealand - figured I needed to plan ahead for something to read on the plane.

If you want to see other books I've read over the last few years you can look at my Goodreads page and feel free to add me as a friend, just send me a bit of a message telling me why you're adding me.

Anyway, offer some suggestions and then I'll use a random number generator to organise a prize for someone. The draw will be Monday the 25th of August and I'll try and work out a prize before then.

Anyway, unrelated pictures (sorry about the terrible quality, they were both a bit rushed)! It's a couple more beanies I've made on request! Yay!

Water Bottle Cozy

Here's something else I made for the Australian Knitters swap on Ravelry. The bag itself is crocheted and the handle is woven on my Eolia loom.


I didn't use a pattern, just crocheted a base large enough in single crochet and then used a pattern from a stitch dictionary for the bag. I can't remember what I used now.

Swap Shawl(s)

It feels like I've been waiting to post these photos forever. I took part in an Australian Knitters swap on ravelry and my partner has received. Yay!

This is my main project for the Australian Knitters group swap on Ravelry. I made my partner a shawl in some lace weight merino I had (held double), and it is nice and soft, and hopefully warm enough to take the chill off in Darwin without being too hot and thick. I also made a teeny one for a Wednesday Adams doll she received in the last swap from someone else.



The pattern is Eva's Shawl which worked up quite quickly and gave a nice lacy shawl that provides a bit of warmth.

Flapless Flappy Beanie

My sister's boyfriend asked me to make him a beanie for his birthday which was cool, and I've now been asked to make one for his brother as well...but that one will wait for the moment because I've got a few WIPs on the go.

The outside

The inside (slightly reversible!)

Ooooh, texture.

I used the pattern Flappy from Crochet Me but ended up using the Boy Beanie pattern for the top from The Happy Hooker because I was using much thicker wool which wasn't behaving with the start of the pattern. I also excluded the ear flaps.

Babydoll Top

This is the third project I've started from the CrochetMe book, and so far, the only one I've finished (admittedly, the second one I was working on when Barney was sick and I picked up the wrong hook size for the last piece...it's now hibernating). This was actually a project that I wasn't initially planning making from the book, but I bought some Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton on special and thought it would be a nice project for it.


The colour is somewhere in between both pictures and the pattern is the Babydoll dress by Amy O'Neill Huock, which I've modified to be a top.

Made with 8 Ply Bendigo Woollen Mills Cotton in Parchment.

Curious Squid Square

Gosh I have been a bad blogger haven't I? Partly it's because we ran out of internet, and then I've been on jury duty...not on any trials but almost. This is a bit of an old project, but I've just been slack about posting it.

On Ravelry, I took part in making a square for the Pratchgan, an afghan for Terry Pratchett, after he's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. Terry Pratchett is one of my favourite authors, and it's really devastating news.



I made a curious squid square with the squid investigating the next square and the other tentacles all dangly and free.

12 inch square CAL: August easy square

Only two to go...but I'm definitely finishing this CAL late. Never mind. Although I'm quite impressed with the amount of stuff I'm managing to get done at the moment, particularly with the amount I'm working. I just need to stop signing up for swaps!

Here is the August Easy Square for the CAL, the pattern comes from here.

12 inch CAL: August experienced square

Three squares to go in the craftster CAL, although with all the swap embroidery I'm doing at the moment and being very busy at work it may take me a while to get onto them!


The colours in this don't look as mismatched in real life, but I did run out of red yarn with very little left to go.

The pattern is from here.

12 inch square CAL: July easy square

Here's my July easy square from the craftster CAL. Getting to the end now (only four left in total).


Pattern from here

12 inch square CAL: July experienced square

Wednesday's are my normal day off and it's nice having a day off during the week because you can do things around the house (eg craft) without disturbances, do a bit of shopping, and go places that may be closed on the weekend (bank, post office). Anyway, today I had to go in to work for a staff meeting. I figured since I was doing that I was entitled to spend some money at Spotlight (fairly close to work, although a bit of a pain to get to and I normally finish too late)...except I got asked to drop a dog home on my way back, which was around the corner from home so no shopping for me. I'm still trying to decide if this was a good or bad thing. Otherwise the going to work in the middle of the day did manage to disrupt me from doing anything useful.

Here's my July experienced square from the craftster CAL



Pattern from here.

Shawl-Collared Wrap Cardigan

Another jacket, I made this with some yarn I bought from ebay. A little hint - if you are making something, check your yardages/meterages? first. I ended up with about 10 grams of yarn left over - although the belt was skinnier than it should have been and I made a couple of modifications to the pattern - I didn't make sleeve cuffs or a pocket (not because of yarn shortages, but I would have run out if I didn't make the modifications)



It's the Shawl-Collared Wrap Cardigan from SweatBabe.com's Fabulous and Flirty Crochet and it was a fairly easy pattern to follow...I might just need to wait until the weather gets a bit warmer to wear it.

12 inch square CAL: June Easy Square + Naughty Tree

I came downstairs on Saturday morning to discover a lot of leaves outside our front door and on closer inspection found this had happened...

Luckily that's not my car...and there isn't really a lot of damage. If you look closely in the picture the branches to the left are going in a different direction and are a slightly different colour...because they're off a different gum tree and came down on Thursday, cutting off the power across the road. After two reasonably sized branches have come down in a week we're getting a tree guy in to look at everything and let us know if we need to take any trees or branches down.

Anyway, I've finished June on the CAL now. Now just for July and August, although there will only be September after that so I've just got six squares left in total. Then I'll just have the TAST and hopefully I won't sign up for any other ongoing challenges after that...I also have a round robin swap and a shop the swap on at the moment...and I did want to take part in a Christmas ornaments swap this year (if anyone else is doing this and sees it come up on craftster, could you remind me in case I forget to look on the swap board?)



The pattern is from here

A project from my first spinnings

I've been very good and used the first thing I've spun up to make a beanie.



I've wanted to make a slouchy hat for a little while and I got some compliments on this when I wore it out which was nice. The pattern was from here.

I really should get an action shot but it's very hard to take a picture of your own head and there isn't anyone else around.

12 inch square CAL: June experienced square

So I had almost caught up in the craftster CAL, but now I'm behind again (5 behind I think, better get moving again!)


This one is the June experienced square, and the pattern is from here.

Post Office Hat

My sister kept borrowing/stealing the last beanie I made so I said I'd make her a beanie if she bought me the yarn...three months later she did (when I went to Southland with her - she actually works there) and I made this.


It's the Post Office Hat which I've been looking for an excuse to make, and she initially said she wanted something really lacey so version 1 (not photographed)got frogged because it had really big holes in it (by that stage she'd forgotten she wanted something lacey). I've still got enough yarn to make her a narrow scarf, but she has to wait for that one (as she got the beanie the day after she bought the yarn).

Done in Patons Caressa DK - lovely and soft. Now I've just got to make her a matching scarf with the left over yarn.

Birthday Card

A bit of a break from all that embroidery today!



I whipped this card up quickly for my mum's birthday the other day. No real pattern, just made up (and frogged back!) as I went along, and glued to a card.