Poor Dan

Yes, I know you are probably sick of hearing about Dan Carter and his groin injury but I'm still gutted, not least because I'm going to miss my 5 and 7 year olds yelling "It's our Dan!!!" everytime they see him play. My knitted version was looking very sorry for himself this morning too. All the wet weather (and I suspect a few 'helpful' people) had him looking very bedraggled.

Photo SaskiaN Designs

I took him off the wharf this morning to do some repairs and couldn't resist a few adjustments. I would have loved to knit him a sexy nurse to rest his head on but no time.

Knitted Dan is all repaired now. I hope the real one is fighting fit soon too.

We love you Dan!

A little teaser

I'll reveal more soon but in the meantime, here's a clue

My Creative Space - Nearly finished

As usual, I've got several projects on the go, at varying stages of unfinished. Sometimes, that last little bit takes weeks to do because my finishing mojo has gone somewhere and I've got my 'must start a new and more interesting' mojo going on instead.

These silk/cotton mix fingerless gloves just have a few rows to go to finish the pair and I could have/should have finished them last night. I'm making them as a favour for a lovely neighbour and she could have worn them today if I took half an hour to finish them last night. For some reason, I just couldn't do it.

Then there is M's new dress that I showed you the fabric for last week. All it needs is the shoulder straps hand stitching in at the back (I want to be able to pull the stitches out easily and adjust it as she grows) and a hook and eye closure at the neck. Again, just don't have the motivation to do it. I just want to start new projects, to put new ideas into practice. Do you have those days? I will have to make myself finish these off tonight and then they can both be worn or put away instead of draping themselves prettily over the arm of the couch.

For more Creative Spaces pop over to Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space - for the kids

E has a new friend and is going for a play after kindy today which means that I have several hours up my sleeve. I'm a bit giddy with all the time I have to 'play' today and don't know where to start.

Both of my girls have been going through my patterns and picking out what they want me to make them (bliss for someone like me!). M chose this pattern and asked for something in blue. I found the beautiful floral at Spotlight the other day. The green spot doesn't look like much in the photo but trust me, it's going to look fab when it's teamed as a trim on the dress. M wants the dress on the left with the bow but I think it might be a little too much on the floral print. I will make it without but will have to have a 'back-up bow' in case of meltdown. Why am I such a sucker?!

I've also got this on the go. It's a little cardigan for an old school friend's baby which is due next month. You may have seen me knitting it at the last Devonport Craft Market. You may have also thought that it looked like I had nearly finished it at that point. If you did notice that, you might be wondering why this photo shows the back which is the very first step of the pattern. Lets just say that there was an incident with a couple of dropped stitches (aaaargh to slippery metal needles. You are the bane of my life). The dropped stitches happened to occur around midnight on Monday and were on a tricky decreasing row. I spent the next two days futiley employing a crochet hook to try and get them back where they were supposed to be, but in the end, I came to the conclusion that it was better just to pull the whole thing out and start again. Thank goodness it's a newborn cardy! When it's finished, it will look something like this.

I made this cardy for another friend's baby last year. Isn't she a precious dot? She will be one now. Stop growing up all you babies! Stay cute and tiny for a bit longer!! You are so much easier to knit for when you are this little.

I'm off to have a little peak at other people's Creative Spaces over on Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space - all over the place

I was going to show you some of my knitting today but it's a little all over the place.

It's here

 and here

 and here

 one end of the house, to the other.

Did you do this Miss Crazy-Maisy?

 

 No? You were busy doing Kitty Yoga and looking cute?

 Very impressive Kitty Yoga but are you sure you didn't do this? You were the one inside looking suspciously interested in the knitting-that-I-forgot to-put-away when I left the house this morning.

How about you Mr Kipper?

No?

You were testing puzzle boxes for size and strength?

Well... I think there may be some little white lies being told here by certain pussycats.

Well what am I going to show these lovely people now that you two have destroyed my knitting? 

Another photo of the heart cake? Oh alright then.

Ta Da!

For more (hopefully less wrecked than mine) Creative Spaces, pop along to Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space

After my parents left to go back home to Australia on Monday,  I was in some desperate need of cheering up. Given how much eating I've done whilst they've been here (and how much weight I've been piling on recently!), chocolate wasn't really an option. Filling the couch with smiley creatures is definately an option and always cheers me up.

These guys will be on my stall at this Saturday's Crafternoon Tea.

I missed last week's Creative Space as I was on holiday with my family but this is what I would have shown you if I'd been here. I spotted the Olearia that Kate knitted a while back had to have a go myself. My oldest daughter, Maddy, loves blue and hates sleeves so it seemed like the perfect pattern.

The wool is Patons Jet.

I found these stunning Italian floral buttons in our local wool shop (Wild and Wooly, Devonport) and knew Maddy would love them.

Can you guess why she's not modelling it for the photos? Yup. She hates it. I cannot get her to put it on even for a photograph. ARGGH! Luckily, I have a younger daughter who will grow into it (and there's always the chance that Maddy will change her mind. Keep your fingers crossed!)

For more Creative Spaces, pop over to Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space - Legless

My kids have had three school/kindy trips between them this week and I've been parent help on two of them. With that and a sicky for one of those days (oh, and a flooded sewing room), my creativity hasn't exactly been flowing this week. I've been working on some knitting (which I've only pulled out once so far. Yay!)



And a sock monkey for a soon to be 10 year old boy. He still needs some eyes (the sock monkey, not the boy) but I'm loving the look of the checks.

And then there's the legless kitten. No comments on life imitating art please. :o)

It's a very soggy day today, I hope you manage to keep dry and warm!
For more Creative Spaces, pop over to Kootoyoo.

My Creative Space - Absolutely no help whatsoever.

Madeleine is learning about life long ago at school this term. Apparently, children in the olden days were given jobs to do by their parents to make life easier for the family (what happened? Why did we lose touch with the good old days?!).

A finished Robot t-shirt for this Sunday's market

It's market day this Sunday for the Devonport Craft Market which means life gets a little busy around here.

Shark tee

There's the stocking up of the stall for a start.

Babushka onesie

And the organising of the market too.

I snuck in a little knitting. Some fingerless gloves for the Mister.

And for some reason, my family expects me to still clean the house, shop and cook meals. I decided this morning that I would try some of the old fashioned methods of getting the small people in the house to do their bit. Eloise was very pleased to help. Offered to do the cooking AND the washing up (rainwater soup and plastic pizza anyone?)

Unfortunately, even that proved too much and she was very soon caught slacking on the job.

I blame the sunshine. It did occur to me to find a long extension lead and park the sewing machine on the deck. In the end I decided that procrastination was the order of the day, grabbed my sunglasses and joined the small person for a spot of rainwater soup.

There are some truly wonderful Creative Spaces over on Kirsty's blog. I'm quite sure none of them are procrastinators so hop along and admire.

My Creative Space

Madeleine's ballet cardigan is FINALLY finished.

And I have a new love which is going to be keeping me very busy this week!

Happy, happy, joy, joy!

Is it wrong to love a machine this much?

For more Creative Spaces, pop over to the crochet queen Kirsty's

My Creative Space - Escaping the rain

It's still revoltingly rainy here in Auckland and our basement is more than a little damp. My sewing room is in the basement so my Creative Space is in the kitchen today. I'll be wearing a lovely ensemble of thick wooly socks and extra long cardigans and trying not to cut any of them as I crawl around on the floor cutting out patterns and fabric. Know the feeling?

I have some little red shorts to make for my Dolly Donations soccer player.

If you can spare the time to make a dolly, please do. It's a great cause. All the info can be found via the link above. All you lovely ladies who can crochet and knit can join in too. There are free pattern's on the Dolly Donations blog to make knitted and crochet dolls. The deadline isn't until 1st November so there is plenty of time for you to get creative!

I've been doing some more knitting myself. The green sweater has been put on hold briefly while I make a warm ballet cardigan for Maddy. Mum is going to make Eloise's for her which is a very good thing. I hate making the same pattern twice (my knitting bag is full of single socks and booties). Do you have that problem too?

I'm also slowly adding a few bits and pieces to my Felt shop. I've just finished this little size 2 pinafore dress to list in the shop. It has gathered strips on the front which I really like the look of. I think I might do this on a few of the kid's t-shirts too. To make the gathered strips: 

• Cut out three or four 2 inch wide strips about 1 1/2 times the length you want them.
• Set your machine to the longest stitch length and stitch down the middle of each strip. Carefully pull one of the threads to gather your piece to the length you want it.
• Pin all the pieces to the front of the outfit you are decorating (I used a pin at the top and the bottom and one in the middle to secure it).
• Stitch down each strip (remembering to adjust your machine back to the normal stitch length), removing the pins as you go. Back stitch at either end to make sure the strips are secure.
• If you use knit fabrics, the strips won't fray. You could do something similar with wide grosgrain ribbon.

Let me know if you do this as I'd love to see what you make.

What's your Creative Space today? Pop along to Kirsty's Kootoyoo blog and see what amazing stuff she has been doing (and spend the day in awe of all the other creative spaces.)

The Cat that likes to get in the way

You may have read in the little "About Me" section in the sidebar of my blog, that I live with a cat that likes to get in the way. This isn't an exaggeration. The kids have both been home sick today so I brought in the stuff from their wendy house and let them turn the living room into their own little house. They had a dining room, a nursery, even a sewing room (and yes, I got roped into making them a cardboard sewing machine before I had even managed to have a shower).

(It says 'Eloise' on the other side because mean-Mummy refused to make two!)

So what's this got to do with the cat? Well, the next few photos should show you how Kipper reacts if you aren't involving him in the game and how the girls are so used to it, they just use him as an extra accessory.

He was lying on one of their plates so they decided he could be a plate instead.

And it didn't stop there. Maddy went to bed a little while ago to read a book. Guess who decided to be helpful again?

Look closely and you will see he is lying on her book.

He did the same to me last night, lying smack bang in the middle of my knitting pattern. He was wet too so I was really pleased! Luckily, I had just finished all I was going to do on this little bunny for the night. All she needs is clothes.

Edit: My blog layout seems to be on the blink! Fingers x it resolves soon. In the meantime, apologies for the random photo positions!)

My Creative Space - Something for me

My Creative Space today is this tunic/dress that I made using the material I bought from Global Fabrics last week.

Don't you love it when you make something and it fits right first time and it looks like you wanted it to?

I'm really pleased with it.

It's made using Burda 7798.

I am smiling here ... honestly.

I'm also thinking about what I'm going to stick in the kids' lunchboxes, wondering where my oldest daughter's school shoes are and thinking about what to get out of the freezer for dinner. Know the feeling?

I've finished the back of Maddy's sweater. I don't think I'm going to have enough

of the recycled wool to finish it but I'm sure it all work out in the end. I'll figure out a way to stretch what I have even if I have to make the sleeves shorter. Any other suggestions?

Eloise's Creative Space is this mad hairstyle she gave herself this morning.

It's been a year since I started this blog and I have a giveaway to celebrate. Enter here if you want to!

What's your Creative Space today? Thanks to Kirsty at Kootoyoo for hosting this great game.

Parcels from Nanna

There is a great deal of screaming and jumping around in excitement when a parcel arrives from Nanna. One arrived yesterday for each of the girls. Maddy's contained a very cute bear and a bracelet with elephants on and Eloise had this in it.

Beautiful isn't it?

This is one very pleased little girl.

I'm hoping to get a few crafty bits done today myself. I need to finish this painting.

which is for Maddy's school art auction.

And I want to do some more work on the Maddy's sweater.

I bought a pattern yesterday to make something for myself so hopefully I can cut that out.

What have you got planned for the day?