Blogtober the 19th, Pay It Forward

A while ago, my friend Mary posted a Pay It Forward on her blog. I received my gorgeous package earlier this year, it contained delicious chocolate (ummm, one guess why it's not pictured!), handspun yarns (Mary knows I have a bit of a thing for brown yarn, but both of these are just beautiful), felt, gorgeous bulldog clips and a neat reusable shopping bag that now lives in the bottom of my handbag.

So, it's now my turn to Pay It Forward.

I will send a gift to a randomly selected someone who to leaves a comment on this post within the next 365 days.

I am willing to post anywhere in the world, so don't let that stop you commenting.

The catch is that you have to have a blog and be willing to do the same thing.

So if you'd like to participate, then leave me a comment and make sure to leave me a valid email address so that I can contact you for your address, etc.PLEASE also tell me what kind of things you'd love to receive or any allergies you might have.

Paying it forward is lots of fun! Go on, leave me a comment! And hey, if you're not selected it doesn't mean you can't still pay it forward to someone else anyway, post someone something you don't need anymore but think they might appreciate :)

Blogtober the 18th, Matariki

I have to blog about this! I can't believe I haven't already.

Now, I can take no credit for the knitting of this most stunning jersey. It was knitted by my beautiful friend Fi and gifted to my family. I can't tell you how much I love this. Yes, I love the smooshy soft WOOLganics yarn and the cleverly designed pattern by my friend Sarah. Yes, I love too that it fits my Timothy as if it was knitted just for him.

But what I love the most is the generosity of such an amazing gift. I know it must've been hard to send this jersey to me after knitting it. It's the kind of jersey that I would find hard to give away, in fact, I don't think I'll be able to! And Fi has a little fella of her own that could've grown into it I'm sure (though shush, I don't want to give her any ideas)

It's amazing right? And we love it.

Thanks for being you Fi xxx

Blogtober the 17th, 8 months old today!

It's true! My babe is 8 months old today! It's unreal that he's 2/3rds of a year old and yet what a doozy the first 6 months in particular were. But these days he's pretty chilled, he loves the big kids, doesn't get into too much mischief (because he can't move anywhere on his own yet) and eats everything I shovel into his little mouth, screaming for more when he finishes the first helping! He's sleeping much better at night too, but I'm a bit nervous to mention that for fear of jinxing things. Less than a fortnight ago he'd be waking 2-3 times in the 11-12ish hours that the other kids were sleeping overnight. In the last week or so, he's doing much longer 10-12 hour stretches! It's amazing the effect it's having on me. I've even felt like knitting lately.

This picture seems pretty fitting, the kids 'crowned' my David the other day. The crown was one Penny made at kindy for Timothy's pretend 3rd birthday.

Actually, I took this video today, I wonder if this link to watch it will work...

Less Than A Week Left!

Not long now until the final of the Rugby Word Cup! That means that my competition to knit a rugby jersey using one of my patterns finishes soon

If you're interested, the blog entry here has all the details

And go the ABs tonight! But whichever team wins the semi final tonight out of the ABs or the Aussies I hope they thrash the French after their game against Wales last night!

HTML? Huh? Help???

I hate things not working right on my blog. Hate it.

I have a 'visitors to my blog' button (ok, if you look closely there are two but the second one was added because the first wasn't working). So, halfway down the links on the right hand side there is the original 'visitors to my blog' button...and it's not working anymore.

So, I added another (it's the one at the top at the moment) in the hope that it would just continue with the blog hits. But no, it's starting from 1!

Who knows how I go about getting a blog counter with the right stats? Or how I fix the old one. The HTML is obviously bung, but I'll post it here in case someone can see the problem?

yasmin lawsuit

I'm all about 'Tomorrow' at the moment

Tomorrow When the War Began series that is, by John Marsden.

The first book came out when I was at high school, I know I waited and waited to read it and then the queue at the library was so long for any others that that was where I stopped reading the series. But recently I've worked my way through the True Blood books (which I loved!) and felt the need to continue on reading another series, something light and easy.

And so, Tomorrow When The War Began it was. I've almost finished the 2nd book at the moment. Yes, it is written for teenagers, but it's super mindless reading. I'm watching the DVD as I type too, I'll let you know what I think later.

And so, what series should I read next? Something light, entertaining and part of a series is the criteria :)

Blogtober - The Best LYS Ever!

I am so lucky! I have the best little local yarn shop! It's about 4kms from my house, stocks a fabulous range of gorgeous yarns at a variety of prices and is owned by Tash, a beautifully vibrant and knowledgeable knitter and yarn dyer (amongst many things). Oh, and it's called Holland Road Yarn Company, found on Jackson Street, Petone, Wellington

I've just come back from knitting night there, meeting up with other knit/yarnaholics and seeing what yarns/patterns people are knitting while eating nommy food and drinking a cuppa tea. It's my idea of fun. It's close enough to home if I get a call that one of the kids is beside themselves. And you can buy anything that speaks to you at the end of the night if you like. Dangerous! But the chance to sit there without children for a couple of hours and fondle yarn is wonderful.

Actually tonight I came home with some delicious hand-dyed DK, I think it's one of Tash's first batches and it's stunning. This particular skein is destined to become a Jane for my Penny. You can also buy Tash's yarn online at knitsch

Blogtober - I'm Rocking!

I don't know if many people are really interested in what I'm blogging about, but besides being a day late for starting, I feel like I'm managing fine to blog every day, even amongst head colds and flus.

Today, I've got a beautiful little summer cardi/top to show you, this one is called 'Summer Days' by Elena Nodel and it's really cute. Perfect for summer days...and summer evenings.

I knitted this in some lovely soft Utiku 4 ply baby wool that has been in my stash for a year or two. I thought it would match a little dress Penny has and all my kids look great in blue, it's their fair hair and blue eyes.

The buttons are super cute little daisies, made by the talented Benji.

The pattern will be out soon!

Clutter Kills

I hate clutter.

My house is cluttered at the moment. It's hard to get through the hallway. My dad would've said it was dangerous having blocked the main exit from the house in the event of a fire.

Looks like clutter can be deadly in other ways too

Las Vegas clutter article

Washington clutter article

Human mole article

These articles make me think of those programmes on telly of those serial hoarder type people. Where they live in a house with piles up to the ceiling everywhere and little tunnels through them to move around the house in. They always seems to find dead cats or something gross hiding in the piles too, ewwwww.

I love those programmes, they always make me feel better that my corners of stuff to sell/biff/give away are somewhat manageable in comparison.

Where's all the knitting?

For someone that used to blog an awful lot about my fo's (finished objects), I've just done a look back at my posts this year to check that I won't repeat myself to find that I haven't really posted about my knitting since this post here which was pre-David!

So here are just a few things I've knitted this year, I've got plenty more to add so I'll just start with a few.

This Rainbow Dress was knitted for my daughter Penny's 4th birthday (in February!). The beautiful yarn was dyed by Shannon Passmore.

Since then, I've had a go dyeing a few rainbow gradients of my own.

I did these two for a couple of swaps, though I need to have another go soon, I owe one of my lovely sisters some as a belated birthday present ;)

Actually, speaking of Rainbow Dresses, I knitted another special little girl one for her 4th birthday (though yes, it's modelled here by my Penny)

And these Barbie sized ones were actually knitted recently, testing them for Georgie who is working on a plethora of dolly designs at the moment. The barbies are naked no longer.

If anyone's interested in me popping up a wee blog tute on how I did the rainbow gradents, leave me a comment and I'll get onto it :)