Only 88 days till ......

dare I say it ?? CHRISTMAS !! Yes, the silly season is almost here and to put you in the mood, have a look at this amusing little gem from Robbie Williams and 'friends' .....



I've been making mini Christmas stockings to help with a Knit4Charities project. We are making mini stockings to send to one of our members who will distribute them to many of the charities in the Brisbane area who give out small gifts (presented in the hand made mini stockings) to children during the Christmas season. The number of expected children is around 5,000.



Quite a few members are knitting stockings but since I prefer to crochet, I'm going to stick with these ones, the pattern for which was written by another member of our group. They're very easy and each one takes less than an hour to make.

Something else which is easy, is this recipe ..

Christmas Crackles

Ingredients:
70g (2 cups) rice bubbles
100g (1/2 cup) caster sugar
45g (1/2 cup) desiccated coconut
2/3 cup Sunbeam Mixed Fruit
125g copha
95g (1/2 cup) choc bits

Method:
Combine the rice bubbles, sugar, coconut and mixed fruit in a large bowl.

Place copha in a saucepan over medium heat until melted. Add copha and choc bits to rice-bubbles mixture and stir to combine.

Spoon mixture into 16 patty pans lined with paper cases. Place in the fridge to set.

Yum !!

Hey Hey Hey, its a beautiful day.

What a great day its been. Lovely warm weather at last, a finished project and a remarkable discovery !! First let me show you my FO ..



I used a new pattern from JustCrochet and I love it. Heather's patterns are so beautiful and also very easy to follow. For this hooded cape I used Shepherd Baby Wool 4ply machine washable which is 100% wool, made in Australia. I just need to buy three little buttons for it tomorrow then it will be winging its way to Belgium on Saturday to Lisa, a new arrival for friends of my daughter and son-in-law.

And what was my discovery? My friends on Australiacrochet can tell you that I've been talking about starting a wool-eater blanket (Reversible Hungarian Rug) and want to use Magnum 8ply which seems to be a bit like hens teeth around these parts. Soooo .... (what a great excuse for a trip to the coast) .. I have been thinking of going to Batemans Bay to visit the Bargain Box for my supplies. The lady there usually has a whole heap of Magnum 8ply in a wide range of colours. Well, surprise surprise, I was in my local supermarket this afternoon and you wouldn't want to know ... right there before my eyes were about half a dozen bins of (you guessed it) - Magnum 8 ply. Naturally I bought three balls - just to see if I still like it, and since I've finished the baby's cape, I just might make a square or two tonight. Still want to go to the coast for a few days though so I can veg out, buy yarn, read some good books and watch the sunset across the water. Such bliss.

Oh boy have I been busy

I could just scream !

I've been wandering around all day wondering what to do with myself ! Last night I needed a break from the Australian tartan rug, so I started a child's crochet sweater and finished the back (looks good too, even if I say so myself). I don't know what's wrong with me but if I see a pattern that looks interesting I simply need to try it NOW. Well, today I spent some time having a browse at patterns I have saved (from the net) onto my computer and stumbled across a knitted dishcloth pattern called Aussie dishcloth - no picture - big mistake !! Of course, I had to grab some needles and start making one (the crochet sweater can wait). What do you think of this ?



I can see Tasmania and the bottom part of Australia - BUT I can also see the letters AK - should that be AU ?? Now that just doesn't seem right to me so this little project is destined to be frogged as I don't want to waste my lovely Bendigo cotton. What a waste of time - I could have done the front of that sweater.

To cheer myself up I grabbed my good old hook and made something yellow. Found this coaster on a fellow bloggers blog. I believe the pattern is on Ravelry - also free from Coats & Clark website.



It is yellow but my scanner seems to be less fond of yellow than I am - or its having a bad day too! Actually, the coaster is yellow with a green edging but of course you knew that !!

Seems I'm not the only one having a bad day .. two of the local radio stations have gone off the air - probably something to do with the weather - so I think I might go to bed and read a good book.

What a hoot

No matter what your political persuasion, this is very clever

Let's have a Party

My grandson is now 8 years old and we have just spent the most fabulous day celebrating. With help from the Gecko Gang, my little man and about 16 of his friends had such fun. The jumping castle was a huge hit, everyone enjoyed the face painting, the food was devoured with gusto and I'm sure we'll all sleep very well tonight. Have a peek at some of our pics .....





Even mum and uncle couldn't help themselves !!

Soap sack

I've been busy doing other things today and haven't been able to pick up a hook or needles. While browsing a website this evening I came across just what I needed to overcome the withdrawal symptoms - this cute little soap sack from a new website which I read about on Beverooni's blog "One Yarn after Another".


As usual the colour is not quite right in the photo because of the lighting in this room but I used a pretty 4ply pink cotton.

Now that I'm on a roll, I've decided to crack open a 1lb cone of Peaches & Creme that was given to me by a friend from the US when she visited Australia last year. Its a variegated cotton and the colour is "spring meadows" - think I'll have to find another pattern to try from that website.

Tomorrow I must get back to my Australian Tartan rug.

Cast On

I must, I must improve my ........... knitting !!!! A good place to start is with the cast on so I've spent an hour or so on YouTube looking at various methods of casting on. I think the cable cast on for 1x1 rib is my favourite so far and I'll post the link here so it will be easy to find for future reference. Did a small swatch but I think I'd be inclined to use a size larger needles for the first two rows of the main colour yarn and then switch back to the size required.


Another method worth trying is this stretchy long tail method This one is not as neat looking but is much more stretchy. I used a 4.50mm needle and a 2.75mm one for this cast on sample.


Yet another is called very stretchy cast on and I think that with a bit of practise would be a really good method.

OK .. having tried all three methods, THIS is now my favourite - although I do like the look of that first one. As the name implies, this one is very stretchy, and actually quite easy to do once you get the hang of it. Its a quick method when mastered as you're casting on two stitches at a time.


Whew, after all that research, I think I need a drink. Must now go and brew a fresh pot of coffee.

Back to the Bottle

Yes, it was a baby's bottle in the middle of that square. I'll be finishing my square off later tonight as the next KAL starts tomorrow. I usually prefer to see a picture of anything I'm about to make but as these projects are small it is fun to try and anticipate the outcome.

Today I did a few more rows on my Aussie Tartan rug, and made the square for my partner in Australiacrochet's 7" square exchange. I chose this one (currently pinned to my blocking board) ..



No. 173 (Big Round) from Jan Eaton's "200 Crochet Blocks" which I have on loan from the library but may end up having to buy as its such a good book ..



Wattle Day and Spring .... yipee !!