~ Whoosh ~

It's birthday season in my antenatal group at the moment and so I've been trying to make something to add to each present.

Today we celebrated Nathan's party at the Silverstream Railway - going up and down the track in a steam train carriage all to ourselves (well, all those that were at the party)

I knit Nate a Little Rocket designed by Megan Kelly.

Penny had great fun selecting what colour would be good for which part of it - and I was really impressed that at the end it actually stood up (I can never be entirely sure that things will turn out as I intend them to, and not due to the pattern designer, more due to the combination of yarns and needle sizes...ok, and the knitter)

It passed Tim's taste test

And Penny's 'whoosh' test (so hard to take action pics)

And overall gets the big tick from me! Well done Megan on your great little pattern!

And well done to the Hamiltons on your lovely relaxed party today - we had a wonderful time, now, who took any photos from that?

Competition Time!

Ok, so here's a sneak peak of a really easy little pattern that I'll post on here shortly, that is - as soon as I think of a suitable name for the pattern

At the moment I've been calling it 'Little Viper', and Blair's suggestion has been 'Snakes and Adders' but I'm not sold yet. We've bandied about a number of others - 'Snake in the Grass' 'Little Snake' - hmmm.

Here's where the competition comes in.

Post and tell me what you think would be a good name for this teeny bendy snake made of scraps and if I pick it to name the pattern then you'll be able to choose from one of these prizes:

1) 2 sock blockers made to your choice of sizes

OR

2) Your choice of something knit from my custom knitting selection to the maximum value of $25 (I've got more not pictured yet too so if you like this option we can talk about the more extensive list I actually have permission to knit)

OR

3) A 'Coco Kids' voucher (specifying me as the knitter) to the value of $25. This can be gifted to someone else if you don't like either of the options above for yourself.

The competition closes once we've decided - so just post if you think of something, you can always post more names if you think of them after!

Hey, and if you like one of the names we've already come up with then let me know that too!

Another One Bites The Dust

That's another FO this year - an Oriental Lily (designed by the Georgie Hallam who is constantly coming out with new must-knit patterns) in a soon to be released 3T size. Georgie has worked out the 3-10 sizes also and so they are in the testing phase at the moment.  This is knit in The Wool Company's 'Watermelon' with 'Avocado' as the contrast waistband.

I did take rather a lot of photos of Penny in it this evening.I was surprised she actually had no problems with wearing it as it's been very hot, but luckily it has pink and is girly so she overlooked that it was a long sleeved kimono!

'Another One Bites The Dust' may also seem like a bit of an odd blog title for this, but this project is #3 of 10 challenges I am aiming to knit this year. It's all part of the TNN 10 in 2010 group on Rav, and more specifically the '1 of each' challenge. They include:

Baby/Toddler knit
Dishcloth - DONE Ugly Dishcloths
MCN Knitting
Older child - DONE Oriental Lily
Shawl or scarf
Socks
Toy - DONE Dinosaur! Roarrrrr!
Adult knit
Bag
Dolls Clothing

This is going towards my 'Older Child' and while it doesn't exactly fit the criteria of being for a 5+ child, I just don't have a 5+ child to knit for. Plus, with the long sleeves and fullness of it - it'll do (hose TNN chooks are good sorts, no one's going to tell me off)

There are also 2 other 10 in 2010 challenges I've joined up for on there too, 10 baby and toddler knits and 10 new techniques so I'm sure to waffle on about those at some stage this year too.

As well as signing up for the TNN challenges, I'm also down to 'Shop my Stash' - so I'm not buying yarn this year (though I can win it, swap for it or be gifted it - phew!) but I'm aiming to knit only from my stash this year unless I have a specific item I need to cast on that I don't have the right yarn for.

This was the 7th STS project this year, can't wait to see how many I get by the end of the year!

Did I Tell You I Won A Comp?

Well, I did - and this one was a goodie!

It was Brooklynne's Grrrl Shaped Yarns blog competition, just to blog about GSY. And I won!

The prize is a lovely skein of her lovely superwash merino, dyed especially for me and called Jewels (or is it Julia's Jewels? I'm not sure but in a conceited way I love either name because lots of my friends know me as Jules - 'Jewels' sounds the same)

I also received 3 knitpicks fixed circular needles AND Brooklynne's sock pattern

And because I just CAN'T photograph the colour right, I'm going to steal her photo ;) (which it's ok - I've checked with her about)

It's even better IRL

I'm going to use it for a selfish knit to enter her latest comp too - I don't know realistically how much of a chance I have of winning 2 of her comps but hey, I want to knit it up anyway and now seems like a great time.

Dinosaur! Roarrrrr!

That's the name of the lastest pattern I've purchased on Ravelry.

I'm on a self-enforced yarn buying ban this year and so am trying to knit from my 'stash'. I saw this little pattern recently released by it's author Luciana Jorge and thought the budget could probably cope with it's $4 purchase seeing as it would pay for itself, what with all the cute gifts I could make from stash with it (I should also add too that I've had a couple of emails from the designer and she's just lovely - I love supporting people that are so nice...though most knitters and designers I've been in contact with are all fabulous).

The reason I really 'needed' to purchase it though was we'd bought a pressie for James, (one of our antenatal kids who was holding his birthday party today) but it needed something else

Anywho - to cut a long story short, I bought the pattern Wednesday and by Friday night the Mumma and Bubba Steg were completed, after being knit, washed, blocked, stuffed and sewn. I could get addicted to toy making - so quick, and Penny was besotted.

'Now, Tim you can be the baby stegosaurus, and I'll be the mummy stegosaurus...

(click to enlarge)

Green With Envy

Heather! It's finished!

Well actually, it's been finished for almost a week now but I've been waiting for some warm weather to wash and block it (when you pin it out in the right shape for it to dry after a gentle soak/spin)

It's an 'Amy' pinafore in The March Sisters series designed by one of my favourite designers and online buddies, Kelly Brooker (gurnard on Ravelry).

This one is knit in Bendigo Woollen Mills yarn - an 8 ply 'Luxury' called Bracken and the yellowy colour is their Barley. GORGEOUSLY soft.

From the back - ribbing for a good fit

This one was knit as a custom order for my friend Heather
* she decided upon an Amy
* she selected the colours from a sample book I had
* she paid after I emailed her the invoice
* I ordered the delicious yarn from Australia at what I think is a really reasonable price for lovely yarn in a variety of colours
* Knitting began
* Voila! Ready for Heather to collect once she returns from Hong Kong.

It's as simple as that!

Charlie Brown

My friend Ali had to say goodbye suddenly to a cherised family pet just before Christmas - Charlie Brown. A beautiful Chocolate Burmese.

At the same time, I was going to make her a dishcloth for a dishcloth swap I was taking part in. Now, me being a geek, I already had a dishcloth all knit and ready to be rehomed but when I heard I thought maybe I'd put together a few other items

So, my 'Latte' dishcloth was knit - this is made from 70% bamboo and 30% cotton - soooo soft using this pattern.

I also included 150gms of yarn I had hand-dyed in what I hope are chocolate burmese colours. I called the colourway 'Charlie Brown'

I originally intended to also knit one of these...but in the end ran out of steam so was going to include the pattern (which I also remembered I'd left out on my way to give it to Ali)

That's Dedication

I know I brag a little about how handy my husband is, but there was just a little bit of pressure for him to put up a trampoline in Christmas Eve after kids had gone to bed and before it got dark

He did a stellar job on the actual tramp -

But the problem was with the net...the net that had instructions that differed from the materials we had. This resulted in a text to the supplier at 9:30 on Christmas Eve and a returned cell phone call.

By 10:30pm on the 24th of December we were both enjoying a bounce in the dark! It was great fun! And we've all had super fun bouncing on it since then as a family (I definitely recommend getting tramps that can take the whole family)

Penny from the 'Hutt' in mid-air

Cabled Hats

I've had a number of lovely comments and enquiries lately about this hat and so I'm thrilled to be able to offer these for orders.

This chunky cabled hat designed by Amy Swenson comes in three sizes: 3-9mo, 1-3yrs and Kids-Adult (Finished Circumference at Brim: 16(18, 22) inches)
I knit the one pictured in the smaller size

Prices start at $18 for the 3-9 months, $22 for the 1-3 year and  $26 for the kids-adult size. It can be knit in your choice of colour.

Email me at jstanfield@xtra.co.nz to place an order or for more information.

Sock Blocker Orders Are Go!

We've been getting a number of enquiries and orders for Blair's sock blockers lately - so many that he's had to go and buy more materials.

These are in the post as I type, Terry, yours are the ones on the left and in the centre and Jo, yours is the complete set on the right.

They should be in your hot little hands by the end of the week and we hope that you are happy with them.

Blair makes all the sock blockers specially for your order - we don't have a supply of ready made ones so if you need a specific length that you can't find or would rather specify a length rather than a S, M or L then just let us know and he'll make one up the exact length. We aim to please

Cake, chocolate crackles and chips

What birthday party would be complete without them?

We held a joint birthday party for our 2 cherubs on the weekend at our Playcentre. It made sense to do it all in one hit as their birthdays are reasonably close and we'd be inviting all the same people anyway. So we picked a date roughly between the two which also coincided with Blair being on holiday - that was part of the plan.

The night before Blair and I were taking care of the cake decorating. I'd been up early in the morning and made the 2 cakes, dairy/egg free cupcakes and the chocolate crackles. In terms of the decorating - Blair was completely in charge of Tim's #1 train/train track one and I was to do Penny's fairy garden one.

By 12am we were ready for bed, but the house was spotless and there was little to do the next day except for set up the playcentre and ice the cupcakes.

And what a fabulous party we had! I don't know why I do it to myself really, but I'm sure I spend all the time at things like that feeling like a chicken with my head chopped off, but everyone else seemed to be having a nice relaxing time out with their kids/family/nieces/nephews in the sunshine.

Nathan and Elliot discussing their train collections

Penny sampling the food

Tim sampling the sand

Plenty of opporunity for a natter

One thing that I didn't really realise till yesterday when I was getting over the immense exhaustion I've been feeling from both organising the birthday as well as having to deal with a wee fellow that is waking numerous times during the night at the moment is that at the end of the party everyone chipped in to help tidy up. Really! The water trough got emptied, the sandpit toys and trikes put away, the swings and little tramp brought back inside - it really reminded me what wonderful friends and family we have.

MWAH! I love you all, thanks for being there to help celebrate the birthdays of our children.

Knackered

I am tired - so tired that my knitting has hardly been touched tonight for the 2nd night in a row.

We were up till late last night icing 2 birthday cakes for our children's combined birthday party today. I think they looked great - but am too tired to upload photos so will come back

Party seemed like a success, a lot of lovelies came and played and ate.

Children still not that keen to co-operate and sleep though. They're in together for the first time as the inlaws are staying

Hoping I can sneak off to bed soon

*Yawn*

Hats, Hats And More Hats

Lately, I've been knitting hats - 7 hats to be precise.

A friend of mine, Rachael is an amazing photographer (seriously, check out her site, she is really reasonably priced and FAR nicer pics than pixie photo!) anyway, she was after some hats to do a photoshoot for her new photography business

We started with her selecting some hat patterns, yarns and sizes and voila - 7 hats for Rach

I started with this little blue Chemo Earflap Hat - the pattern is by Gabriella Henry.

And followed this with a larger version in a neopolitan coloured chunky yarn

Then along came one of my personal favourites, a chunky newborn hat with cables.

Then a little green 'Gooseberry' hat in avocado green. This one looks good the right way out and inside out

Then came my first 'Tubey' in chocolate brown.  I LOVE these hats, such a good fit and too cute

 

 

I could actually put in the whole sequence of Timothy fighting to not have his photo taken with a hat on - but that's another post. Let's just say though that there won't be many photos of him anymore as a hat model though as he rebels against his mummy with her woolly hats and camera :`(

Then the 'Propeller' hat, again - another fab hat! This one in Peony Pink

And then the last one, a sunshine yellow 'Tubey'

I hope they're spot on Rach. I can't wait to see how the photos turn out - I can imagine they'll put mine to shame (but then, she's the pro)