Birthday Goodies

So these are the lovely goodies that Meshell sent me for my birthday. At least I hope it's all of them, I had to round them up from around the house!



There's a gorgeous card, one of her world famous pincushions (how lucky am I?), a Christmas decoration (that I thought looked gorgeous in her blog, but is even cuter in real life), some shrinky-dink (I've been dying to play with some), a yummy Chewy Choc Chip Slice recipe card(doesn't the name just sound delicious!), some trims and some lollies, (and I may have puffed up the bag just a little to hide the lollies that have already been eaten!), including some caramel apple pops which from the sound of them, I'm surprised Meshell managed to give any away!

So thanks very much Meshell, it's all fantastic!

Edit: The Caramel Apple Pops are REALLY good. It's lucky this is typed because otherwise I'd just be saying "Mmmmm mmmmmm mmmmmmm mmmmmm mmmm MMMMMMMMM mmmmmm!"

Birthday Surprises

It's my birthday today and it's been full of surprises. First my dad rings at work and lets me know that he and mum are coming to stay tonight and then I got a lovely package from MissMeshell. Yay!

I'll post pictures of all my goodies later, because right now I have to get back to cleaning up. Later I may have to explain the presence of a large spinning wheel in my bedroom.

Postcards

I took part in the Easy Postcard Swap, Round 2 on Craftster and I just realised I hadn't posted any of the cards I've been sent. So here they are.







Aren't they all lovely? Doesn't it make you want to travel? It was so much fun getting all these cards in the mail, so much more exciting than what I usually get in my letter box.

November crochet squares.

So, I've done my November squares for the 12" Crochet Square of the Month Craftalong. Actually, I did them a little while ago but I was getting low on bandwidth so I didn't get round to posting them (do you notice near the end of the month my posts tend to drop off? That's why). But here they are now.

Butterfly bookmark

I'm definately adding to my collection of bookmarks to give away as gifts. There seems to be a tradition at work that when the intern leaves each year they leave a photo board. As the most recent one is still sitting on the floor I thought I'd break tradition, so at the moment I'm planning on making everyone something small.

One of the girls at work loves butterflies and purple, so what better than a purple butterfly bookmark. I just love this variegated floss. It's got such lovely colour transitions and I think it's just gorgeous. I've only got a little bit left so I might have to buy some more.



The pattern is from crochetroo and lives here. And yes, I still need to block it.

My Spinning Wheel

Alright, so it was a bit mean of me to post my new spinning wheel with no explanation, but it was lots of fun.

It was pretty much an impulse buy, I admit, on one or two occasions I had thought "Wouldn't it be cool to spin my own wool?" but that's about as far as it's gone. I have never tried to spin, either on a drop spindle or a wheel. So anyway, I was walking down my street, which has lots of antique shops and normally I don't go into them because I'm sure I'd just find something cool and buy it, but one of them had this spinning wheel out the front and the price tag only said $35, and it seemed to work. The evil lady in the antique shop didn't even pressure me, she actually told me I could come back later or walk around the store and look around, so I bought it (that's why she's evil, she didn't have horns or walk around stabbing customers or anything).

So I got it home (where it looks a lot bigger) and it's an Ashford Traditional Single drive, and other than a little spring which costs about $2 it's ready to go (although I'm going to buy a maintenance kit with some oil and stuff too, so I really need to spend about $20 on it). So all I need to do is get some wool or roving and learn how to spin. How hard can it be?

Plus, I've decided that if I am a terrible spinner it can become a decorative piece of furniture, which will serve as a talking point, and possibly also somewhere to hang clothes.

And yesterday's impulse buy was...

Toilet art

WARNING: This post may seem a little odd.

Last night I went to a play (Translations by Brian Friel) which was very good, although that's not actually my point. After the play, I had to use the toilets and they were really cool. On all the toilet doors and some of the walls they had pasted vintage magazines and newspaper images and pages from the 50s and 60s. I could have spent ages in there looking at all the pictures...except that it was a public toilet, and that would just be weird.

But if anyone wants to see the toilets, they are at Higher Ground theatre, 274a Rundle St. I'm now ending this odd post. The next one may be odd too though!

Demodex bookmark

This one probably needs a bit of explanation. One of the vets at work is a dermatologist and one of the skin diseases dogs can get is Demodectic mange (you can read more about it here, so what better idea than to make him a Demodex mite bookmark? Ok, there may be better ideas but I thought this one was pretty cool, and I think he'll get it.



It still needs to be blocked, but I'm pretty pleased with how it turned out.

Fan Bookmark

I've made another crocheted fan bookmark for a gift, it worked up really quickly and is very nice, but it's going away (to a safe spot, which I may or may not forget about) until it's time to meet it's new owner now.



From the lovely crochetroo, the pattern is here

Cherry Jewelry

So I had some round red beads and therefore I had to make some cherries. Although, then I bought the leaf bead (actually I bought three but they looked too big on the earrings).

I like the pendant, but the earrings are a bit long for my head, so my sister might get them, although I still think they're cute!

Ballycumber

After seeing a couple of stuffed Ballycumber mascots at the Adelaide Bookcrossing Convention I was inspired to make my own crocheted version of the little running book.



It's all done in single crochet with plaited arms and legs and pom pom hands and feet. He has no face, but does have a clip attached so I can pin him to my bag or whatever I'd like. Not including his legs he's about 12cm tall and lovely and squishy!

Embroidered bag for my mum

I've finished all the embroidered tote bags for Christmas, and now I'm trying to think of other things to embroider, because it's lots of fun.



This is adapted from a picture by Jennifer Brinley called Jet Set II. I really enjoyed doing the whipped back stitch, I'll be using it more often. It looks a bit creased (even though I ironed it) because I didn't want to iron too close to the metallic thread because I may have heard it melts. I could be completely wrong but I decided not to take the risk.



This quote says, "The beauty is a indiscribable/inspirational? source of joy for that which can discover it" I think, although I don't actually speak or write French so I could have made lots of spelling errors or have it completely wrong. I spent ages useing BabelFish trying to find a good French quote, in French and hopefully I succeeded, otherwise it'll be a good joke at least! Except I found and printed it up in Melbourne and forgot to print the translation, which is why I'm not sure what it says. Oops!

Craft Fair

There was a quilt and craft fair on in Adelaide this weekend so I thought I'd go to it and spend some money. Anyway, after I'd paid for parking and entry and bought three or four things I'd run out of money (I hadn't spent that much, maybe a bit over $40) and when I went to get some more out the ATM wouldn't give me any money. I should have had enough money in my account, so then I started panicking, thinking that someone had hacked into my bank account and I now had no money (it's a logical conclusion isn't it?). But when I got home and checked my balance all my money seemed to be there. Hooray!

So now I've got some lovely crimping pliers, some shiny new embroidery scissors, some bigger jump rings and some mobile phone charm cords (that was an impulse buy, everything else was actually on a list of things to buy if I saw them). I think if I'd been able to get more money out there would have been more impulse buys though.

Swap Info

Here's some general information about me to help anyone stalking me for a swap.

Last updated 15 May 2008.

I kept putting information in here until I got bored talking about myself, because I thought the more information the better.

About Me
I’m a 25 year old girl currently living in Melbourne, Australia, working as a vet. I love crafting (obviously), books, animals, and pretty things.

What I can do (in descending skill level!)
Crochet, embroidery, basic jewelry, papercraft and I will try other things. I’ve knitted two items (I'm sure there will be more, but I'm not really confident enough to knit anything for a swap at this stage. ). I can hand sew (but don't very often), and now that I've got a sewing machine, I should be able to do some basic sewing...but I'm sure I'll enjoy any swap sewing challenges. I've just bought a small loom and I do have a spinning wheel, but I'm not much of a spinner (partly because I haven't had time to play with it much)

Styles I like
I like animals (particularly turtles, butterflies, whales, sheep, dogs, dragons), pirates, skulls (in moderation), vintage style things, Asian themed stuff, fantasy stuff, scientific stuff, cute stuff (in moderation too). I’m fairly casual and go for more toned down things really, but I like cute little pretty items (I’m not making this much easier am I?). Occasionally I also like the slightly disturbing and creepy, so that's always fun too! I also like swirls and spirals. They're pretty.

Styles I don’t like
Anything too bright or big, chunky jewelry, long earrings (they make my head look too long!), anything too alternative. Skirts that go past my knees (they make me look like I’m playing dress ups!), anything too short or revealing. Anything too fussy and frilly.

Colours I like
Purple, Red, Blue, Green

Colours I don’t like
Fluorescent colours, lots of pink or orange (although a little can be very nice!).

Food/Drinks I like
Chocolate, icecream (although not chocolate icecream!), generally sweet things, coke, lemonade.

Food/Drinks I don’t like
Coffee, Fanta, Peas, Pasta, other stuff. In odd things I'm not all that partial to lunch as a meal. Weird I know.

Books/TV shows and Music I like
Books: Discworld (Terry Pratchett), Harry Potter, Raymond E Fiest, Jacqueline Carey (loved the Kushiel's Dart series), Ben Elton. I like fantasy and sci-fi, but at the moment I'm trying to branch out a bit (and I'm enjoying it). For more information on books I like, go here
TV Shows: Angel, Dark Angel, House, Black Adder, Thank God You're Here (Australian show), The Simpsons, Futurama, Firefly
Music: Robbie Williams, Missy Higgins, Jack Johnson, Michael Buble, The Waifs...

Things I’d love
1. A crochet projects tote: In an ideal world I would like a slash pocket on the front (for patterns etc) and a zip pocket on the back (for other things like my wallet). Inside I’d like a section for currently unused yarn and pockets for a crochet hook roll, the current hook I’m using, scissors and a little loop or clip that I can attach a coin purse to which would contain stitch markers and needles and stuff.
2. Above coin purse
3. Some nice scrubs: I’ve got one pair of plain green ones at the moment and they’re a bit boring, plus they’ve got a couple of holes in them where I’ve caught them on things (I don’t really look where I’m walking)
4. Some hand knitted socks
5. Resin goodies
6. A microscope slide pendant
7. Original art
8. A swap journal
9. Fingerless gloves


Supplies
1. Shrinky dinks
2. Beads and buttons
3. Lovely yarn (especially some hand spun or dyed)
4. Bits and bobs
5. Badge/button thingies
6. Roving
7. Ephemera
8. Pretty fabrics

Learn-to kits
1. Polymer clay

Other stuff
1. I’m kind of collecting the magazine series ‘Stitch by Stitch’ which was published (in Australia, UK, New Zealand, South Africa, Singapore, Malta and Hong Kong) in the 1970-80s. I'm missing part 1, and anything from part 66 on really.
2. Old craft books, the dodgier the projects the better!
3. I collect pins (the badge kind) because they’re pretty!
4. This is more an Aussie thing, but any Canteen bandanna's would be cool. I've got a few and I'd like to do something with them, but I think I need a bit more of a range (I've only got three colours at the moment) to do much. At the moment I'm thinking they'd make a cool quilt (which involves me learning to quilt, but nevermind)
5. Recipe cards (10cm x 13cm, 4' x 5')

Vegetable embroidery

I've embroidered the bag for my sister now and I think it's very cute. She's studying to be a dietician so I thought she might enjoy this. I used a colouring book picture from here

October crochet squares

I've decided to take part in the craftster 12" Crochet Block a Month craftalong and here are October's squares.




They were nice quick projects, and I can put them away and not feel like I have to work on them, or other squares straight away which is nice.

Necklace for my Granny

Ok, so here's the last of my Christmas jewelry creations. Unless I think of something else I want to make for someone, which I may, because I've got a couple of ideas now. So it's probably not my last one. Anyway, enough rambling and on to the pictures.



This is made with assorted glass beads on gold tigertail with some crimps and a wire nest with more pretty beads. My granny has quite a few items of jewelry with lovely warm oranges and browns, so while this may be more of the same hopefully she'll like it. It's a bit longer than I'd usually make but she also likes long necklaces.



While I'm generally more a silver person I really like this one, but I've got enough jewelry so it's definately a present!

Bird embroidery

This is the tote bag I've made for my granny to put her Christmas gifts in. The design is from Needlecrafter, which has some great free designs. I love the vintage look of this one, it just kept growing on me as I worked on it.



It was the first time I did lazy daisy stitches and on some of the flowers you can tell. Unfortunately as well, I included central flower beads on the same piece of thread as the petals and when I washed out the design outline some of the beads have pulled on the thread a bit, making the flowers even more uneven. I've adjusted them now, but they'll probably do it again. I guess I've learnt my lesson, and hopefully someone else will learn from my mistakes!

I'm just doing embroidery on one side of this bag, rather than a double sided one like the last.

Bookcrossing Convention

The 2006 Australian Bookcrossing Convention was on in Adelaide this weekend and I went, and had lots of fun. I've ended up with 13 or 14 more books, a DVD, a CD, and lots of new friends.

I released quite a few books (nearly 30, some at the Convention, and some on the streets of Adelaide) and I've got a few good catches.

This is my favourite:

I saw someone stop outside my place of business, and gathered around it, then I went outside to see what they where looking at and found the book. This morning on Sunrise they had been talking about book crossing and now I am experiencing it, I think that's great I will definetly read the book and leave it somewhere for someone else to befriend it.

CAUGHT IN KENT TOWN SA AUSTRALIA

But I also like this one:

Found at the Adelaide BC Convention. (Actually, picked up on the sea - wall at Glenelg) I've been looking for this book for years!

It's lots of fun passing books on!

Necklace for my Mum

So I'm getting on with Christmas presents. While it may seem like I'm organised I'm sure I'll still be running round at the last minute sorting things out. Either that or I'll forget stuff in Adelaide (I'm having Christmas in Melbourne, YAY!) and have to post it back home.

Anyway, I've made this set for my mum.



It's made with fresh water pearls on nylon thread, and tying all the knots was painful! Especially on the earrings. But I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The earring hooks are sterling silver so I went all fancy pants with the whole thing!



Here's an action shot of me wearing the necklace. So if mum doesn't like it...I get another new necklace!

Nestlace Pendant

I really like the Nestlace I've seen on craftster, and I had some wire and I found a bead shop around the corner from me (I don't think it's new, it's just a bit hidden) so I bought some beads (only what I needed this time) and used some of my wire to make this pretty thing.



I'll have to make some more pendants for this necklace. It means I can get more out of the jewelry I've got.

Alcoholic embroidery

This year I've decided rather than wrapping gifts for my immediate family, I'd give them in embroidered tote bags. It's more personal, long lasting and much better for the environment.

I started off with my dad's, because for once it was reasonably easy to think of what to do (I'm still not sure about the gift, but nevermind that!).

So here it it, my own design and other than a few creases that need to be ironed out a bit better I'm pretty pleased with it. I suspect it will get more creased when actually used so maybe I won't worry too much about it. It's actually a bit straighter than it appears in the first photo though.




I've decided to use a Needlecrafter design for my granny but I'm having trouble with ideas for my mum and sister so any suggestions would be fantastic.

Mum: she's currently studying French, so I was thinking something along those lines. If I can't think of anything I'll probably do the Eiffel tower but I'd rather a little cartoon or something in French (maybe something from a school French textbook if anyone has anything they could send me? My mum's books don't have anything I've found useful and they're in another state). Either that or a platter with french bread and cheeses and wine, but I'm not really confident designing that one myself, it's a little complex.

Sister: She's into all the brand names and stuff so anything too unique would probably be left in the cupboard. While she likes to go out, she's fairly health conscious (she's studying nutrition), the bag might get used for going to the gym.. Her favourite colour is blue. She doesn't really read. At the moment ideas I have are a mouse or mice (read the mouse post!), cute anthropomorphic fruits and vegies, a retro style cocktail image, although I haven't found anything specific just yet.

Please help me with these ones!

Wow

I went for a long walk into the city the other day and for once I actually took my camera and I grabbed a shot of this.



Isn't it amazing. I just love that someone has painted that on their wall. It just made me smile when I walked past.

Birthday Card

I bought a card for one of my friends birthdays (because I didn't think I'd have time to make one) and then I lost it, so I've had to make one anyway. I was trying out a new glue and I think I used a bit much but it's not too noticable and I think the card is cute anyway. I hope she likes it!



I'm guessing I'll find the bought card the day after I post this one. Oh well, I'm sure it'll come in handy. Maybe I should pre-make a few cards for when I forget people's birthdays until the last minute.

I can knit!

I have finally stepped up to challenge one of my crafting phobias - knitting.

I've tried to knit a number of times since I was a little kid and my granny tried to teach me. Every time (ok maybe twice) I would try, my creations (generally something simple like a scarf) would enlarge in size until they were trapezoid rather than rectangular at which point I'd generally stop working on them. I'm not sure what happened to them after that. I imagine my mum probably threw them out.

Anyway, I decided that I should try again. Over the last year or so my crafting skills have developed from making an occasional card to spending much of my spare time (which I need more of) crafting, so I decided I should develop my skills further into the area of knitting, and I didn't fail. Although, even if I had my mum bought the needles a couple of years ago and I was using scrap yarn, so it wouldn't have been a big investment of time or money (what did I have to lose?).

So here is my new neckwarmer (as we've had a 34*C day this week I don't know that it's going to get a lot of use in the near future).




It's done in garter stitch and even has a button hole (which I made too big for the button I had so I then made a crochet flower which gets stuffed through the hole - it works quite well).

I'm very happy that I've managed to do something which I always thought I couldn't.

Postcardy Goodness

Ooooh, look what I got! Pretty vintage postcards from MissMeshell. We did a personal postcard swap (my first swap, ooooh!) and I got these lovelies.




I'm not quite sure where they're going to live at the moment. I don't have a cork board or anything and I don't think I can stick them to the walls here so they might go on my fridge.

The Case of the Escaping Mice

I went home to Melbourne over the weekend and my sister (in a terrible display of irresponsibly pet ownership) had bought a mouse at the Melbourne show during the previous week, with one of her friends. By the time they got back my sisters friend had realised she couldn't get a mouse so my sister ended up with two, which she was keeping in a cage which she bought with the mice.

On the Sunday night I was reading a book in bed when I heard a 'scritchy scratchy' noise behind my head. I carefully pulled back my pillow to discover one of the mice underneath. Unfortunately it disappeared underneath the bed before I could grab it. Having a secret mean streak within me I took great delight in waking up my sister to get her to help me catch it. Eventually, following the trail of poo we realised it had gone into my cupboard...not the best place for a mouse with all the stuff on the floor (shoes, books, a box of fancy dress stuff, a box of stuffed toys). We managed to find it and trap it in a corner but then it got away and disappeared. So my sister decided to sleep downstairs and I went back to bed.

The next morning the second mouse had also disappeared (I think they managed to fit through the bars, mice can do that!) so we kind of assumed the mice were lost but left the cage door open 'just in case'. A couple of hours later the mouse that had been in my bedroom was back in the cage. While I was catching that one to put it in a new house I saw the other one run under my sisters bed and managed to catch it (all by myself as my sister was at university). By this time my sister had decided she no longer wanted mice and her friend picked them up later that afternoon, having found someone else who would have them.

The moral of the story - pet ownership is a serious responsibility or a lesson in how to annoy your older sister.

Color Me Blanket - Completed!

It's finished. Ok, so I didn't do two of the crayons but this is definately big enough for a new born.

I'm looking forward to starting some new projects now. I think I'll do some nice small easily finished ones!

Color Me Blanket Update

I've finally finished the green crayon. It took me ages because I kept getting distracted!



I've started on the letters now, they look pretty scribbly, but I'm saying that's a desired effect. Anyway, as my cousin isn't born yet, he/she won't be able to read for some time!

At the moment I'm planning to leave it at this size, because I think it's big enough and I want to start some other projects!

Jewelry set: Winter Berries

I was having a bit of a play with my new beads and I made this set, how does 'Winter Berries' sound for a name? I really love this set, but I've made it for a Christmas present for my sister (I'm a bit organised this year) and so I'll have to give it away. But if she doesn't like it, then I guess I've got some lovely new jewelry.





I didn't actually like the initial set of earrings I made (but I did like the photo) so after I took this photo I destroyed them and made...


...these ones. The original ones were a bit asymmetrical and messy, and I think these ones go a bit better.

The set is made with Opalite beads on tigertail.

The Waves

Since Miss Meshell's recommendation of Virginia Woolf I've read the waves, and so I thought I'd write a bit of a review of it.

I really enjoyed this book. The unusual style of writing makes it a good book for reading slowly, savouring all of it. This is a good thing for me because often I tend to get caught up in books (anyone else suffer from 'one more chapter' syndrome?) and read until the early hours of the morning, before I have to get up for work the next day. I think if you read this all at once, you'd miss out a bit on some of the beautiful imagery, and so it was nice to be almost forced to put the book down before I got overwhelmed with it.

The style of writing also lets you enter the characters minds and also view each character from several different perspectives. I think this is a book which I'll discover more of re-reading.

Cat Bookmark

I was getting a bit bored with the Color Me blanket and needed a bit of a break, so I made this cat bookmark. At the moment it's planned to be a gift, but not immediately, so I'm putting it in a 'safe spot'. Hopefully I won't forget where!



Pattern

Materials
2 mm hook (size 14/A), Size 10 crochet cotton, needle for weaving in ends, scissors.

Upper Body (in round)
Chain 5 (last 2 count as first dc for round 1)
Round 1: Dc in 3rd ch from hook, dc in next 2 st, 6 dc in next st, dc in next 2 st, 4 dc in next st. Sl st to join. (16 dc, sl st). Do not finish off

Head (in rows)
Row 1: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same st, dc in next st, 2 dc in next st, turn. (5 dc)
Row 2: Ch 3 (counts as first dc), dc in same st, dc in next 3 st, 2 dc in next st, turn. (7 dc)
Row 3: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), sk st, dc in next st (first ear), sl st in next st, ch 2 (counts as dc), sk st, dc in next st (2nd ear). (4 dc, 1 sl st)

Sl st along side of head, with an extra sl st in corner (5), sl st in next 6 dc of upper body. (11 sl st). Do not finish off

Lower body (in rows)
Row 1: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next 4 st, turn (5 dc)
Row 2: Ch 5 (foot picot), dc in each st to end, turn (5 dc + 5 ch picot)
Row 3: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, hdc in next st, sc in next st, sl st in next st. Finish off (2 dc, 1 hdc, 1 sc, 1 sl st)

Leg (in rows)
Join in next dc after lower body.
Row 1: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, turn (2 dc)
Row 2: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, turn (2 dc)
Row 3: Ch 2 (counts as first dc), dc in next st, turn (2 dc). Sl st into foot picot of lower body. Finish off (2 dc, sl st)

Tail
Cut three strands of 40 cm. Fold in half and pull through over Ch on row 3 of lower body. Bring ends through this loop. For visual instructions go here. Divide into three sections and plait until you have desired length of tail. Knot end and cut fringe to equal lengths. Alternately you could chain a tail.

Finishing
Weave in all ends. Block and/or starch if required

This pattern has not been tested, so please let me know if there are any errors in it. Please don't copy, distribute, claim as your own or anything else that isn't very nice!

Snapshots from a bathroom

The building I'm living in is pretty old, and while some of it is just...old, the bathroom has quite a lot of character.




I love the way black and white photographs force you to acknowledge light and shade and can give images such depth.

Beading Organisation

Do you like my organisational things? To be honest, I think the plastic trays with my goodies in them are quite pretty, so every now and then I'll get them out and just look at them. Does that make me slightly crazy? Or more than slightly?


Anyway, these are my beads. I've got more that don't fit, plus my seed beads which are in tubes because it's too hard to get them out of the squares without spilling them everywhere. So I need to buy more trays to be more organised (admittedly the other beads which you're not getting a photo of are pretty tidy. Most of them are now in colour separated bags).


These are my buttons (yes, it's probably one of the worst collections ever, but when I have a project that I need some buttons for I'll buy some nice ones), and other bits and pieces (eyes, charms and ummm...tops off drug vials, but I'm sure they'll come in handy one day).


And finally, my multi-coloured wire. It's pretty and in this little jar is very cute. The wire is actually a bit too soft and thin to do much with, but I used some of it for the wine charms I did recently.

So that's my beading (and a bit of other stuff) organisation. It's nice to know where everything is and to be able to see it easily. I don't actually have a huge amount of room here so if I wasn't organised I'd just be in a mess. Or maybe more of a mess!

Sleep deprived.

This last week has been crazy at work. I've been there everynight until 7 or 7.30, then back at 10 pm (for at least an hour every time), 12 (half an hour to forty-five minutes) and 4 am (for at least half an hour). I've been starting late, but unfortunately due to early morning noise I haven't been sleeping that late. So now I'm so tired I could cry. Actually I did that last night when I couldn't get a muzzle on a dog. I was tired and frustrated and I reverted to toddler mode. At least it's the weekend tomorrow and I don't have a midnight check tonight. The 4 am one shouldn't take as long...I hope.

I've just kind of re-read this and it's probably obvious that I'm tired by the way I've
rambled.

Color Me Blanket Progress

I'm getting there, and look, no pesky ends. I've continued being good...and to be honest it is more satisfying than getting to the end of a project and having to sit and weave in end after end after end after...you get the picture!



Anyway, I'm not sure at the moment if I just want to do one more crayon and leave it at that because that should be big enough for a baby. Once I've done the next crayon (which is green) I'll pop a picture up here and hopefully get some feedback, because laziness is no excuse for doing a poor job. Well, alright it is, but I don't have to use it!

While I've started the green crayon I'm not sure how long it's going to take. It's been a really busy week at work and everytime I pick it up I end up zoning out halfway through a row because I'm tired!

Lots of books...and they're all mine!

I had a surprise day off last week. Seriously, I was at work and my boss came and told me to take the rest of the day off. Which was nice, because the weather was lovely and I think this week is going to be pretty busy!

Anyway, as well as going to the beach for a bit, I went to Harbour Town, which is Adelaide's factory outlet place. They have two book stores. This is bad, because I always have to look in bookstores, and if they have cheap books I find my wallet opening.



So far I've only read 1 1/2 of these books (plus the two library books I borrowed later that day). I'm trying to read a bigger variety of books than just fantasy (you can't tell from this picture can you?) and I've been reading some 'classics' lately and really enjoying them. Anyway, MissMeshell mentioned a while ago that she's really enjoying books by Virginia Woolf, and as I'm always open to suggestions for new authors, I bought The Waves by her, so if I don't enjoy it I know who to blame! (Just kidding!)

Hopefully these will last me a couple of weeks at least.

Look what I got!

That's right. It's a NEW craft book. The Happy Hooker. I was in my local bookstore buying a birthday present for my dad (after I bought him a, to be honest, cheap and nasty, card and he responded with "Oooh, a bought card" (subtext "Lindsay has spent some money on me rather than making a card") I don't worry about making gifts, which I know would be unappreciated), when I saw The Happy Hooker and snapped it up.


I'm really impressed with it. All the instructions are really clear, and it's fixed a few errors I was making after self-teaching myself. The patterns are really good too and although I haven't made anything from it yet, I'm definately planning too!

On another note, I think I've finally got my template sorted out now, but if there are any problems could you leave a note in the comments section?

Wine rings

I've made a few sets of wine rings for Christmas gifts.



They're all in sets of 6 and in a bit of a red/Asian theme. All of the sets are pretty similar, but there are a few little variations.The beads are pretty secure because I had to straighten the ends of the rings before putting them on. Now the only problems are losing them and people forgetting what ring is theirs once they've had too much to drink!

Necklace and Earring Set

After buying all those beads I thought I'd get out my tools (some of which were new too!) and make some pretties.



It's fairly obvious where my inspiration has come from, the Chain Smoking necklace which is floating round everyones wists. I'd link to it, but craftster.org is down at the moment.