mitten

So here's the first one. It's finally completed. I'm quite happy with the way it's turned out and I quite like the mix of colours. Apart from the obvious trial and error and frogging and try again cycle that went on during my inventing, the only problem I came across was I made it a little too long. It stretched with pulling it on and off and so stuck up too far past the end of my fingers. But I wasn't going to frog it way back to the fingertips so I cut into the top and took a chunk out. My challenge was to reconnect the appropriate length so it lined up and the join wasn't too bulky. A challenge that had me putting it aside a couple of times. But I finally managed to make it work!

Isn't it lovely? I crocheted it from hand dyed yarn (the autumn multicolour) that I trialled at my sister's and had to adapt it with the plain yellow. I invented the pattern as I went so my biggest challenge is yet to come...to make it's mate and have it looking somewhat similar!! Though the colours will be reversed.

It's all single crocheted except the cuff which I crocheted with doubles and singles in a length ways ring before attaching to the mitten. The thumb was a bit of a challenge as I haven't crocheted something like that before and as I went I realised I'd need to fan it out in an eclipse shape to make it work. All in all I think it finally worked out quite well. Now to make that second one...

first award

The talented Lauri from RUKA thinks my blog is a lovely young thing so she gave me an award! Thanks Lauri. I'm delighted to accept it and pass it on to others. You can check out Lauri's wonderful creations on her blog. You can at least look at the pictures anyway as she writes mostly in spanish. So I think these are the guidelines for the award:

1. Accept the award.
2. Post it on your blog saying who gave it to you.
3. Pass it on to other new blogs you think are wonderful.

Make sure you leave a note on the blogs you award and the one who gave it to you to let them know you participated in this award. It's a nice way to connect with people and see what other wonderful blogs are around. So I hereby extend the "One Lovely Blog" award to the following:

Lucy from Attic24 She has some truly beautiful crochet artwork.

Alessandra from Just be Happy Some more amazing crochet artwork.

Go ahead and check out these fantastic blogs.

time spending

What have I been up to lately?? Working on a few different projects.

I wanted to play with my circular needles (first time I've ever tried some) so I started this loop scarf. Also trialing my first ever "lace" work. It's just simple eyelets but is going real well so far. Takes sooo long to knit a round though.

Also been making myself this little 7x7cm notepad. Juicily thick with sketch paper to scrawl ideas and designs for creations and children's stories while I'm on the go.

D'oh! Only had to grab two things but Spotlight had some great specials!! Lol. Oh dear! But half those balls were $1 each and some $2 reduced from $6. And I did get what I went in for too including the yellow wool to inter-crochet with the home-dyed stuff so I can finish my mittens. Sure could have used them last weekend!

whipit beanie

I'm going to a spit and bonfire tonight so I'll need a beanie to wear. I wanted to make a new one and decided to whip it up this morning. Ü It's quite a basic beanie; crocheted using simple stitches on a 9mm hook. I love the yarn though. Cleckheaton's Vintage Hue in shade 1279. 100% wool. Beautiful stuff. Don't you think? Should keep my head warm and my need-a-wash hair out of view.

bah!! outta yarn...

How frustrating! I'm stuck on my socks at the moment so I started creating some mittens with some wool I dyed at my sister's a while back. I got one lovely mitten mostly done and wasn't sure if I'd have enough for the rest so I started the second. My hoping was to no avail. Bah! Outta yarn. And I can't just go buy some more coz I dyed it myself. No re-doing that colour! Now I've gotta use my creativity to solve this little problem so I won't have to scrap the whole idea. I have some plans so we'll see what happens... For now I'm off to cook some cinnamon rolls instead.

sock ahoy!

Look at my sock work! It's going pretty well. It's at least looking like a sock so far. I've had to fix a few dropped stitches but nothing that I'm not able to cover up. He he. It's been pretty easy so far. But a few more rows and I'll be on to the tricky part. That will be the test.

sheep and wool show

I went with my sister, Tammy, to the Bendigo Sheep and Wool Show today. We had a great time!! Just the two of us (no kids) and a whole day to roam the sheds and buy some treasures. It took us quite a while to find what really interested us...there were lots of live sheep on show. But where's the yarn and gadgets!? We did find it thankfully. So much nice stuff. Tammy had been saving for months so she got to go home with more including a drop spindle made from a banksia and an umbrella swift which is incredibly useful to turn a skein into ball of yarn. There really was quite a lot to see and I enjoyed myself a lot more than expected. I left with a sigh and wishing I'd had more money to spend there. It was worth going though. So worth it.
Here's Tammy trying her hand at spinning wool. Her hand didn't manage so well. Ha ha. It's a lot harder than it looks.Anyone want a beer? A good one to buy and shove in with your mate's stash for a fun joke...they're all made of wood!

Checking out some wooden gizmos...the guy was showing us how to use a drop spindle.
And my few treasures...bamboo circular needles, a small skein of Aussie Merino and a big skein of Aussie Silk Merino, my bonus for babysitting the night before...paid in yarn! Mmm so nice.