Jillaroo General Release

After a couple of months of physio I am happy to say I'm 'fighting-fit' - or should I say 'knitting-fit'!!  Hurrah!  To celebrate I started knitting up the pattern Cinnamon (a girl's cardi) for Miss 6 this week.

The Jillaroo sock pattern that was the 1st installment of the Christmas Gift Yarn Club in 2012 is now on general release - you can buy it on Ravelry or through my etsy store

This week's craft group was a bit sobering for me - not the company - some lovely ladies and a good chat and giggle is always had - but a lady had died and left her crafting projects/items - boxes full as I'm sure we all have kicking around the house... anyway it was all kindly passed onto the group but there were many many UFO's in there which got me to thinking what would happen if I dropped dead tomorrow? - I have umpteen various projects on the go at once - all of which I consider important to finish.  How sad to see this lady's unfinished projects sat in boxes all of her ideas & items she wanted to make - I am going to make a concerted effort to organise my projects better and try - ha ha! and do one project at a time in future.

Talking of multiple projects - oops! I bought some lovely cotton fabrics today at the discount table... I am thinking clothing for next Summer for Miss 6...

First Project of the Year...

So as part of my 'Happines Project' and my year of doing what I want, I have always wanted to crochet a blanket... I started a week ago to make a Chevron Blanket in grey and yellow - these colours seem to be very in right now & are the colours of our spare bedroom...  I am aiming for it to fit a Queen bed - the spare bed.  The project certainaly won't be portable for much longer - it was hard to work on it at Knitting Group last night...

Happiness...

Firstly Happy New Year!  We had a very hectic Christmas and holiday time but managed a quick beach break to the very beautiful Port Fairy.  The photo was taken Xmas Eve.

Last year was an incredibly busy and difficult year for me - we moved from New Zealand to Australia, the kids needed settling into a new country and a new way of life and so did we!  I had to try and build a network over here from scratch which is still an ongoing process.  We bought a newly built house, did a load of work to it, landscaped a garden from scratch and I started Charlisa Yarns...  It makes me feel tired just thinking about it all - and I am truly glad to see the back of 2012!

So here's the thing... I ran myself ragged last year and made myself ill on several occasions. My son doesn't do 2 days a week of childcare like he did in NZ which enabled me to work on patterns, creating items etc., however, I carried on as if he did, trying to cram so much into the year.  So here I am this year with 3 free hours a week once Mr 2 turns 3... to do all of the weekly chores and run a business.  Like trying to fix a square peg into a round hole - it just won't go.  I realised that I wasn't spending the time I needed to on the kids and I was ending up frazzled trying to do everything that I wanted to do and look after the kids at the same time then getting frustrated because I'd not achieved what I wanted.  

I am parring back on things for 2013.  The etsy stores will still remain open...  I will be dyeing as and when I get the opportunity rather than on a regular day.  Pattern designing will happen as and when I get the time. I will be attending Laurimar Town Fair on 9th February 2013, but as for going to St Andrew's Market - that is on hold pending me fixing a shoulder injury as there's a lot of lifting involved in setting up my stall and I am under the physio at the mo!   Once I get more time and the shoulder is fixed, regular dyeing will resume as will the markets.

I'm dedicating this year to my Happiness Project - I, as all Mums do, spend my time running myself ragged to make sure everyone else in the family close & extended is happy.  This year I decided to do it differently - stuff wasting my time worrying about and running around after other people trying to make sure they are happy (obviously the kids & hubby are exempt from this!  I am not that ruthless ;o) ), stuff wasting time on Facebook, stuff time consuming mess and disorganization. Its all about making sure I take the time to look after myself.  Hence the physio that I have put off despite not sleeping a full night for a year due to pain!  I am taking the time to organise my life and have a clear out, make sure my health is sorted, get into a fitness regime and to enjoy the kids & hubby. 

Happy knitting/crocheting! x

Warning - toy does not come with batteries...

This week's blog will be a departure from the usual work stuff since I am officially 'off' now until the end of January (although the yarn shop and the design shop's current stock will still be available from 8th January.)

So how many of us are running around like headless chickens trying to get a spare moment to wrap the kids gifts - only to find when you do find the time that you have some assembly, batteries/accessories to buy or some work to do on their gift before its ready for wrapping?

I thought I was prepared. I had bought my daughter a simple weaving loom for her to learn to weave on and stashed it away months ago.  Although when I went to wrap it I took it out of the box and found that the amount of yarn on the tiny project that came with the loom was small.  It was not going to make anything that she could use.  Naughty Mummy couldn't help but meddle! So I spent over an hour re-warping the loom with some rather nice varigated 'Naturally' Yarns Merino, Possum and Alpaca with some nylon (wish I'd seen the yarn's contents before gifting it to Miss 6 as it would have made lovely luxury socks, but nevermind, she'll love it and it will make a fantastic scarf!) .

There were no pictures on the instructions and the wording 'you may need to seek some help' was obviously aimed at the child assuming that the parent knew how to weave already or perhaps was an engineer.  Had I not had weaving experience it may have taken longer to fathom it since I had already eagerly ripped off the project that came with the loom without seeing how it was warped.  I even did a little weaving to start her off so that on Christmas morning she'll be ready to go on a scarf project rather than having 5 minutes worth of weaving with what was supplied. 

 I had a lot of fun making Christmas bunting.  It was super-simple to make and looks very festive.  Once Christmas is over I am thinking - seeing as the tree is in our playroom - of making some fun bunting to festoon the room with year-round.

Craft-wise all knitting and designing is on hold at the moment as I make a crocheted gingerbread house - I am not far off finishing so will post pics up once its done.

Time for a break...

I've spent the last couple of weeks knitting like mad for a custom order I took on at a local market.  Unfortunately the only photo I took was such terrible quality its not worth putting up here.  I will be re-knitting the pattern and launching it next year - a scarf and stole in 4-ply yarn.

So whilst my knitting hands have been so busy there has been no pre-Xmas dyeing and also my fibre-prep/dyeing has ground to a halt.  We have a few overseas visitors arriving next week until the end of January (finally got the curtains & a few other desperate home projects done!) so the shop will be temporarily shut over Christmas until 31st December, then will be open for January for existing stock only - no custom orders or new stock until February 1st.

I also will not be attending any markets until the end of January, and am preparing for the Laurimar Town Fair which will be held on 12th February.

Merry Christmas - have a peaceful holiday.

Custom Dyeing and Weaving

Its been another busy week...  I've started a knitting project for relaxation... not one of my patterns, nor a new design, but am knitting up Indigo Bay pattern by Kieran Foley.  I'm knitting it in Vintage Purls silk-merino hand-spun single that I spun on my Sourkraut spindle (I think this was my second ever yarn I hand-spun) and Vintage Purls lace weight in a grey colourway - unfortunately I lost the ball bands for both so have no idea what colours they are but the colors teem up together really well.

 This week I did hand-dye yarn, however it was all for custom orders.  My favourite was this lovely pale greys, blues with a hint of beige.

I also managed to dye a custom order for myself!!  It rarely happens!  Some black for warp on my loom, and I picked up some lovely, chunky merino when I was back in New Zealand and the blues and greys from my favourite custom order caught my imagination... so I mixed up some colours and dyed up a skein each of a bright royal blue and a varigated grey... design ideas are buzzing around my head... my fingers can't keep up with my brain!

I also enjoyed the long weekend - we went to Whittlesea Show.  I had to share the pic of the sheep - this was a primary school age entry.  Very cute!

I have also managed to warp up the loom and start weaving again this week - first time since we arrived from New Zealand.  Am quite glad to be back in the weaving mood.  Couple of beautiful scarves made with Soya Silk, Blue Faced Leicester, Merino and alpaca yarns with a bit of hand-spun silk/merino and some pure silk  in there too.  The first is a beige/grey/pale pink concoction, the second is all blue

With all of the above I seem to be somewhat in avoidance mode at doing the curtains for the house!!  I wonder what I can get up to next week in order to avoid the dreaded curtains?  Oh that's right I have a pile of unprocessed fleece... which will be being washed, processed and dyed and blended into some rather exciting roving - I definitely won't have time for curtains!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Firstly, Happy Halloween!

I remember growing up in the UK, cold Autumn nights this time of year - unlike the 30 degree heat we have in Melbourne at the moment... and one memory sticks in my head particularly... since Halloween and Guy Fawkes night are so close, my Granddad, who was a farmer and a very artistic chap, decided to amalgamate them... He happened to have a big empty field, and made a huge bonfire, carved swedes, yes pumpkins were very exotic in the 1970's in North Yorkshire!! He had swedes that were legendary in size!  But the magic of that night, fireworks, bonfire keeping us all warm, sparklers in hand (probably highly dangerous in those days too!) and our swedes with scary faces and candles burning in them came back to me in an instant when I was wheeling my trolley round the supermarket this week and saw monster sized Pumpkins... Well - it was too much for me to resist recreating a bit of magic for my own children.  So armed with knife just as old Granddad did, I sat and carved out my pumpkin much to Mr 2's delight.  It was messy, yes, but boy was it fun!  I might not have a field to have a bonfire in (and I doubt, since we live in bush-fire area, that it would be welcomed!) and I may not be allowed to light fireworks (again because of the bush-fire area) but I can bring a little Halloween magic to the family...

Here is the last installment of Christmas Gift Yarn Club - gorgeous colour - Tree Snake 100% Australian Organic Merino 4-ply and the knitting pattern for Snow Garden Cowl.

The pattern for Snow Garden Cowl will be available 26th April 2013 to non-club members.

My new knitting pattern, Aphelion Cowl, has been released today - its a free download on Ravelry so go, help yourself - recommended yarn is any dk yarn.  I used Madeleinetosh Tosh DK in 'Well Water' colourway - its gorgeous!