Getting ready for the holidays!

It's the first Monday of the school holidays here in New Zealand tomorrow. I know a lot of people find the holidays hard work, children bickering and complaining they are bored (I have vivid memories of doing this to my mum constantly during the holidays), but I am SO looking forward to a little break from my role as child taxi-driver!

So, we're taking a little time to make a list of some things the kids would like to do over the holidays. I might share some of these on Monday, but they're not 'set' for specific days yet. Inside activities might be saved up for wet weather days, or for when we need a break from our adventures.

My aim is to post photos each day of what we've been up to too.

Who's in? I'd love people to join us and spend a little time enjoying moments of their school holidays rather than counting down till school goes back! And with the list of activities, when the kids start that fighting or moaning just choose something and go for it!

Holidays are to be enjoyed, by everyone!

Here's just a few pics from our Saturday - it was dress-up and enjoying the sunshine yesterday.

Cowboys and tigers

 

Butterflies and chrysalis'

 

Ahhh, sitting in the sun eating a carrot - bliss!

 

We've had some great adventures today (Sunday) too, so I'll pop up some pics about it tomorrow.

Happy holidays!

Home Sweet Home

I will return to my series about lovely NZ yarnies, but I snapped off some photos of my kids in our house the other day and just love the simplicity of them.

Maybe it's because of where we are at the moment, after the rollercoaster ride of deciding to sell, trying to buy, having multiple offers on our place and finally deciding to stay put regardless of the dream offer, we're completely at peace with our decision to stay in our home, with the excitement (it's exciting at least in the planning phase!) of building on.

So, the other afternoon, we were just hanging out at home and I took a few photos. I must admit, since having a new camera, I actually get it out less, but I do love the photos it takes, even if I don't understand most of the settings yet!

 

 

 

 

 

Incidentally, anyone who is my friend on facebook, this is the same afternoon that Penny took my 24 hour lipstick to school for 'news'

 

 

 

These last two pictures are a little special - Penny is about the same age as this little blossom tree, a tree which always reminds me of my Dad. You might not be able to see it in the pictures, but it's now sporting a big patch of blue paint which matches the fence...the tree kind of got in the way when I was painting the fence - it all adds to it's story right?

 

The tree is blossoming at the moment, just as my gorgeous little girl is. And there she is, sitting outside the place we've chosen to be our future home, not just our 'it'll do for now home' as we'd always considered it before. 

 

Watch this space, the plans are being drawn up at the moment. The building is likely to begin in February and no doubt I'll need to look back on this post and remember times when I felt more at peace with the process. 

Yarnies I love #2 - Featherbrush Yarns

I didn't intend to follow my post #1 so quickly - but seeing as Rachel of Featherbrush Yarns is having a stocking tonight on Facebook I thought it would make sense to post so that people could possibly join in with that if they wanted.

This is one of Rachel's photo's from a previous yarn stocking

I love Rachel of Featherbrush Yarns - she's been dyeing a while and I have some of her lovelies sitting in my stash right now, waiting for me to cast them on...these ones here.

 

Actually...I have just remembered I have one more package, sitting waiting for me to photograph it too! A lovely yellow that I won and I'm going to cast on for a new design when I feel a little more motivated!

 

Rachel is able to dye trims and variegateds as well as dyeing lovely semi solids. In her shop you'll also find handmade buttons and WIP bags by Amie of Purple Sheep.

 

Rachel's a great knitter (and pattern tester). She knitted her lovely yarn into a Hoodlum for my David - this is her Splice and matching trim. David gets comments on it where-ever he wears it!

 

So, check out her Facebook page for more details on her stocking tonight - I think her stocking tonight is using a lovely new merino base with amazing yardage too!

 

xx

 

J

 

 

 

Yarnies I love #1 - Knitsch & HRYC

I mentioned last time I blogged that I should do a series of yarnies that I love - so here it begins.

Holland Road Company is my local yarn store and is run by the young and talented Tash. She opened the bricks and mortar store in Petone after starting her successful  knitsch sock dyeing business and now her shop is where I stop if I need anything special.

Tash still dyes her stunning knitsch yarn, as well as running yarn clubs with it, but she also stocks lots of luxury yarns that are hard to get in New Zealand - like Spud & Chloe, Fyberspates (I LOVE the sheen of Fyberspates, it's the silk content), Cascade along with many others. Tash also stocks Knitpro and sells all kinds of other fabulous things needed for knitting and crocheting - stitch markers, WIP bags, patterns, well everything!

If you're ever in Wellington with a little bit of time to spare, you should pop in there and have a look - it's a beautifully set up shop.

 

(these photos were taken from Tash's Blog)

My name is Julia and I am an addict

This post seems vaguely familiar. So I've probably written about this before. I like yarn. No, I've had unhealthy addictions to buying yarn in the past. Right now, my bank balance and the lack of space for more yarn in my stash is preventing me from adding anymore (though there was some organic DK merino screaming at me to purchase it a week or so ago here along with some peachy elan at Skeinz last week...but I resisted after carting it and closing the window)

I was just saying to someone earlier this week that I started writing and selling patterns to fund my habit. Actually, that wasn't quite true. Before the writing patterns, I was a custom knitter, working long hours each evening on items for other yarn lovers without the time or inclination so that I could earn my few $ per hour to buy more yarn.

One of my biggest problems these days when it comes to yarn (besides now finding the space to house it as I knit fast...but I purchase more yarn than my fingers can keep up with) is WHO to buy yarn from! There are such a lot of amazing dyers out there now. I can quickly count off the top of my fingers 5 friends with yarn dyeing/selling businesses! Tricky! And dangerous for bank balances.

So I thought I'd do a series of blog entries soon about them and the lovely dye jobs and FOs that have resulted from them.

And whilst I'm here...here is a photo of my stash. Eeeek.

But it can't be that much yarn really if I can fit it all into this picture right? And some of them I've had and admired for years, but just don't know what I can make out of them these days, it's a little nerve wracking thinking about casting on a few of them. So those ones may be destined to be admired in the skein forever more.

Sezza Knits This September

Have I mentioned my very talented little sister Sarah before? She's the one far left in the short pale blue dress, I'm the one next to her in the long white one. Cute right? Our stunning mother in the red dress taught the 4 of us girls to knit when we were young.

Sarah has started designing patterns this year with a hiss and roar. She really should've been doing it years ago, she's always had the talent and the brain for it, but after being one of the best pattern testers out there, she's come out with some brilliantly beautiful and clever patterns of her own.

You can see them all HERE on Ravelry.

This September she's hosting the knit-a-long on Ravelry - pop over HERE and join in! She's giving away some lovely prizes and KAL's are always such fun!

Go queue and fav some of her patterns, there's something there for everyone! Really!

It must be August again....

Did I mention me and August have a bit of a love/hate relationship?

August is a month that's probably good for my soul but hard on my heart. I'll apologise in advance if you feel like you've read this blog entry before from me - you probably have .

August is a month surrounded by memories of my Dad - his birthday, my mum's birthday, the date of his death and funeral, father's day - but then whoooosh, it's over for another year.

And because it's compounded, you can't really just get on with life and pretend nothing happened. I think this August has hit me just recently with the awful loss of other people, others remembering their children passing, friends with terminal cancer, a mother in my knitting community losing her toddler to SIDs, the toddler nephew of a friend of mine's little heart and body fighting to hang in there.

And then there's my house on the market, with it's 5 year old little blossom tree growing, getting ready to flower. A tree that popped up just after my Dad died that I wanted to leave and let grow and bloom when it was suggested we dig it out or chop it down. A tree that I love to see in my garden, that would make me very sad if future owners chopped down.

And then whilst looking for real estate these days I happened upon this. My family home for what feels like my lifetime before leaving home...and even continued past then for when I came home for summer holidays and visiting. We moved in when I was 2, in 1980 and it was sold to the current owner in 2005 from memory. It doesn't look much the same anymore tbh, well, besides the shape and functions of house and rooms. But what a super childhood I had living there with my mum, dad, sisters and brother.

Just seeing it makes me wish I could turn the clock back and just go lie on the floor of the lounge with my siblings watching tv and making too much noise whilst Dad was trying to watch the news and Mum was knitting.

If only, even just for a little moment we could.

Introducing Greyson

Well there's nothing like a new pattern release to spark a bit of blog writing!

“Greyson” - son of the grey-haired man. This pattern has been affectionately written and named for the men in my family, my distinguished looking silver haired husband and our delicious sons.

I'm actually really proud of this pattern - written in 3 yarn weights with 14 sizes (for each yarn) from NB (15") to 10-12 years (28"), I think this is a pattern people might like to knit more than once. I've knitted 6 of them already! And one of my testers Rachel has knitted 3 already too!

Greyson is a classic raglan style V-neck sweater – all ready for you to personalise as you wish!Simple to knit, with a straight forward and easy-to-follow pattern, it is knitted top down and seamlessly.

And I've got a quick knit a long for it running till the end of August too - come and pop over here and join in!

This pattern is also accompanied by a fabulous Watermellish PDF for argyle charts for duplicate stitch, which are worked if you wish after your sweater is knitted. These are included for both the vertical and horizontal argyle with both a unisex diamond shape as well as an alternative heart chart. They are very straight forward - an excellent introductory duplicate stitch project if you’ve never attempted it before!

You can buy a copy by clicking this buy now button - it is selling for $6USD.


Hmmm - and how about a little pattern giveaway whilst I'm at it? Leave a comment here with your Ravelry name and I'll randomly pick a commenter tonight to gift a copy of the pattern to. If you've already purchased it then I'll refund you the pattern price instead!

Happy Knitting!

xx

Julia

I'm so excited and I just can't hide it!

Well, this week has had a lot of ups and down. Well, maybe lots of downs (we missed out on a house we would've loved to end up living in along with other things I won't mention here) but thankfully there's always been a light at the end of the tunnel that is this week.

Tomorrow I jump on a plane (hopefully...it is flying Jetstar *gulp*!) and will be winging my way to Auckland to catch up with some fabulous friends who I heard were getting together for a bit of yarn dyeing and crafting. Not someone to be impulsive unless it involves yarn and 1 day specials, it was most unlike me to book tickets to go too, but I'm really glad I did. No backing out or changing my mind when I've already coughed up the dosh!

But the people I'm going to catch up with and many meet for the first time has me a little excited. And nervous...though I sure hope everyone thinks I'm not some weird freak or something.

And then there's going to be the child free time. Oh my, how I am looking forward to sitting on the plane and listening to an audiobook whilst I knit. SO looking forward to it. Last time I was meant to have some 'childfree' time out, I took along my bebe on a retreat, who development bronchiolitis very quickly and we ended up having to leave and then spent 4 nights in hospital with him. I think that's why my husband didn't blink an eyelid when I asked if perhaps I could get away for 24 hours this weekend.

Meeting me at the airport is going to be the most fabulous Emma of Olive & Emma designer yarns. I've been meaning to blog about Emma and her most stunning yarns for so long that maybe I'll write a blog entry to go up over the weekend whilst I'm away...I feel terrible it's still just a blog post in my head! I'll be staying at Jo's place too, she's a wonderfully talented crafter and dyer too of Jodulbug Creations!

And what happens next I'm guessing will involve a fair bit of gas-bagging and hopefully laughing, some drinking, eating, maybe some yarn dyeing and knitting, perhaps a little bit of sleeping and then me catching a flight back, tired - but rested if that makes sense.

Wishing you all a lovely weekend and hope you find the time to do something you really love during some point of it

xx

J

PS - Every blog post needs a pretty picture and couldn't think of what to post for this one, so here's a photo of what happens when you get out your yarn to photograph for 'stashing' on Ravelry. David sure thought it was great fun to play with (and I'll add that none of these are posed photos...what 16 month old poses!)

Happy Birthday The Little Rascals

This June I celebrate the 2nd 'birthday' of my The Little Rascals e-book/patterns.

And to celebrate I'm doing a little bit of giving as a thank you to all my wonderful knitty friends, who without I'd never have even considered writing a knitting pattern - let alone the 8 I now have for sale on Ravelry, along with 5 in development all due to be released this year.

Use the code: Birthdaypresent on any of my patterns this month on Ravelry and you'll get a 20% discount.

On top of that, I'm also offering a 20% off all my paid cottage licenses - which takes them to:
The Little Rascals (with free Teacher's Pet license) - $52USD
Teachers Pet - $28USD
Katniss - $28USD

And I'm running a couple of KAL's too (knit-a-longs) - with some random prizes supplied by some lovely yarny friends.
There's one HERE at the Knitting for Boys group of all my The Little Rascals patterns
And one HERE for all of my patterns in the Budding Designers Downunder group.

Come and join in and get your knit on!

xx

J