Crochet Necklace

There are all sorts of  beautiful knitted and crocheted neck pieces popping up on Pinterest  Ralvery and on blogs all over the place at the moment.  However they are mostly scarves, cowls and winter, winter, winter wear.  In sunny Queensland it hurts to even look at some of this winterness, but I want to wear my crochet around my neck too!  So how perfect that the marvellous Lucy from Attic 24 has this pattern for little crochet balls.

My new necklace.

I used a size 3 hook it was fiddily but it had the best finish.
 The yellow ballon the left  was made using a 3.5
 and as you can see it's not as tight.  Warning - They are addictive.

What are you doing in your Creative Space?  

Making Soap (Without Chemical Burns)

I have been very keen to make Cold Press Soap Recipe from the Down to Earth Blog for a while now.  I have been collecting my ingredients from various places, local and the internet.  The Caustic Soda arrived while we were on holidays and our kind neighbour was collecting our mail.  Eyebrows went up when my Hazchem parcel arrived, thanks Mr Neighbour P for not judging me.

Finally soap day was here, I banished the younger two children outside and recruited Miss M my scientist in residence to help me.  We weighed and measured with NASA like accuracy, we had our protective clothing on and our work bench all laid out with soap making equipment.  I can not stress enough the importance of treating this process with full Laboratory protocol.  I am happy to report that only a few mild chemical burns were sustained (and that they may even have been psychogentic, we were that paranoid.)   However next time I would mix the caustic soda and water outside as, phew does that give off some noxious gas!  I also can not agree enough with other bloggers that a stick mixer is the way to go and be really careful that it doesn't overheat.

The Trace looked just like custard when it was time to pour.  I think next time I would let my trace thicken a bit more than this.

 Lye is the name given to the toxic burnie mix of the caustic soda and water.  Trace is the name given to the mixture when it will no longer give you a chemical burn.  (Which is when the Lye and the oils have completely mixed.)

It really did look yummy.

Miss M "put some random toys in to make the soap more fun" (her words.)  

The recipe said to leave it for 15 hours before cutting into bars.  Unfortunately for us a humid heat wave kicked in so it was 48 hours before I could cut it.  Next time I will give it longer again as the pieces were pretty malleable  and don't look anything like the  Down to Earth Blog photos.   The soap is now supposed to need a couple of weeks to cure but again the humidity will slowing that down.  I also think that if the Trace was thicker when I poured it, it might set faster??

We can't wait to use it - Especially Master B who wants his spider back.

Last Years Pencil Case

I have been putting off dealing with all the stuff that came home from school last year.  The two girls had bags full of exercise books, scrap books, pencil cases, display folders and so on (and on and on.)  What do you do with it all?  All those beautifully covered books, half used pencils and boxes of Oil Pastels - that may have been used once?  Lots of it can be used again but that means an enormous sort out needs to take place.

I am proud to say I have now done it and it was surprisingly enjoyable.

We tipped everything out and then sorted, sharpened tested and binned.

We even did the obligatory, Melt Down All The Old Bits of Crayon.
(in oven at 160, for 10 mins or until melted.)

They are so pretty.  Next time I would do them in patty papers,
 Mr Daddy was a bit worried they weren't going to pop out of the tin.

This is our new Home Work Station.  

A Crochet Injury

I have had my first hard core craft accident and it was NASTY!!  My crochet frenzy during the lead up to Christmas, coupled with faffing about with the ipad whilst sitting in ludicrous postures, came together in the perfect storm to strain my neck and cause a bulging disk.  Have you ever hear of anything more ridiculous???   But it really hurt and I couldn't move.  Mr Daddy had to do everything and I mean everything for me.  The Physio was very cross at me and has banned me from crochet for at least two weeks. (He has actually forbidden me to pick up a crochet hook.)

So I have lots of exercises to do and have to go back next week for more.  

I have to admit I did slink over and pick up a hook but this
is the only way I could do it.  So needless to say I
 only managed to get a row in.

My poor neglected basket.

Has anyone else been banned from crafting for health reasons?

Ponti Knit Skirt

With all this relaxing going on, I have also been doing a bit of sewing.  I got this awesome printed Ponti Knit fabric from Sew Tessuti way back in November.  I ordered half a meter and have been planning to make a plain pencil skirt.

It's Italian and a bit funky.

I just love Sew Tessuti packaging, it makes you feel so warm and fuzzy to open your postal satchel to be greeted by this kind of customer service.

I was so keen to get stuck into it, that I didn't think at all about positioning the printed pattern.  I am not so fussed on the plain part of fabric that ended up at crouch level.  I am going to put it down as just one of those lessons that I learn about as I go.  Having said that....  this is my finished skirt I love it!   I have worn it a hundred times already.  

Christmas Relaxmas

We have been having such nice down time at our house.  Its has been really slow paced, quiet, stay at home kind of days, dotted with some festive activities.  Christmas was at our house this year, it was a smaller gathering than previous years.  My brother and his family have just moved back to the UK (and live in a house that my children swear must be in Harry Potters Privet Drive.)  My sister's husband was also overseas for work, so there was no Uncle M to organise back yard cricket.  There was however lots of good food, homemade gifts and kids running everywhere.

Santa brought Miss S this hammock, its her dream come true and very popular all round.
Its hung between the Mango tree and Bamboo, in its own little cool and shady micro climate.

We had a christmas Fairy handing out parcels

We had Baby Violet to cuddle - How beautiful is a sleeping baby xxx
Here she is swaddled in the Noro Shawl I made for her Mummy.

We have also been spending lots of time in the garden.  I am relocating a couple of veggie beds, in my never ending quest to steal some sun light from all the big trees.  I am also hoping that by having them up closer to the house I might be better at watering.

The new spot (pool side)

The Mango tree has been a major feature of these holidays.
Its ten years old now and finally big enough to climb.
If you look really hard you can see Master B popping his head out of the canopy.

I love coming across children's play,  look what I found hanging from the Mango tree.
I am not sure what this game is or who was playing but it looks pretty.

Oh and I also have my first apples growing, I am so excited.

Christmas Coasters

I have been crocheting up a frenzy!  Everyone is getting crocheted treasures for Christmas this year, so be warned, Loved Ones.  My favourite thing at the moment are Hexagon Felted Coasters made out of the amazing Noro wool.   I played around with a few different shapes and designs but Attic 24's Hexagon pattern I think works the best.  This is a perfect project for the kind of crafter that I am -

1. You don't need to muck around changing wool colours as the Noro does it all for you.
2. Felting is really easy - just pop the finished hexagons into the washing machine on a hot wash.  3.The felting process covers a multitude of sins.
4. You can get 7 coasters per skien of wool or one big mat.

Look at those colours - sigh

Ohhhh so pretty

I had them all finished and laid out like this and thought how
 good they would look sewn together.

All sewn up

What do you think?

I want these all over the house now.

Hello Birdies

Our big project these last few days has been the Bird Cage/Avery Make Over.   Technically this is Miss M's Christmas present but it has turned into a whole family thing.  Miss M has been bird obsessed for a few years now, we have had budges before but I don't like them in the house (being the neat freak that I am, Mum!)  We all have that niggling level of discomfort about caged birds so we thought we would create a nicer, out door habitat and try again.   I got this old cage on our local garage sale site,  we wrapped it with a finer wire and have found the perfect spot.

Before 

After

I think I might like to live here if I was a pet shop budgie.

Via Gumtree I found a local breeder with baby birds for sale only $15 each.  I love it when all your Christmas Gift Organising Stars align... it was meant to be.  The breeder lives about 10 mins away from us, so we all piled into the car and had a family outing to his house.   It was bird heaven, he had been breeding birds since boyhood (which was a long time ago) and had all sorts for sale.  It was tempting to get something more exotic but budgies really are at our level at the moment.  Oh, he also had a great after sales policy - if they die or fly away, don't worry, just pop back & I'll give you another, what parent doesn't love that!

Not sure of their names yet, we are still at that stage where
 we come up with a new name every hour, on the hour.

After we had safely ensconced our new birds in their home the we all sat around watching them for hours like it was a fire place or a fish tank.     

Where Has The Time Gone

Three legged races - love them.

Wow we are hurtling towards the end of the year and I am officially on Hols, as of NOW!   The girls finished school yesterday and today marks the end of a parenting era, with our last ever Kindy day.  Our community kindy is just beautiful and has been a big part of our lives since 2006 when our first child started there.  I remember looking in wonderment at parents that had all school aged children, who were miles away from baby years and who even had children who sat in the front of the car!  Now I am one of them, I feels like I have moved to a new level of the Parenting Club.

The last two weeks have been a blur of parties, costumes and props to make for the school play,  concerts and performances, teacher gifts to make and lots and lots of crochet.

Well done to my big girls for such great performances in the school Christmas concert.  Miss M as Perri-Meter the odd-one-out Elf who saves Christmas with her (possibly autistic) mathematical skills.  Miss S was part of the Christmas Wish Clowns who sing to a sad Perri about believing in herself.  Miss S was also chuffed with her cameo appearance as one on the elves who bounds out of Perri's present machine.

           A couple of Teacher gifts, I trust in the adage "you can never have too many bags."

Sack races - Go Master B, who knew you had such hidden talents

Crochet Oh Crochet how addicted I have become.
(More Crochet posts to come)

Clever Things My friends Make

I have some very crafty friends, (and some very professional artiste's - you know who you are Ms KLB!)  The unfortunate thing is that we all live miles away from each other so have to share project progress via dodgy iphone snaps.  This doesn't stop us and somehow it really doesn't matter, as the old adage goes its the thought that counts (or the text message.)

This is the start of Ms Soon to be Mother of four's crochet blanket.

How great is this bird cage prototype by Ms PN
- note how well it goes with my bird cage purse.

Before

This is a pair of shorts I made years ago for my girls then
handed down to Ms S for her girls.  Her girls have worn them
and now thrifty Ms S has up cycled them into plastic bag storage.

After

The shorts live on...

To Do

I, like many people at this time of year have a long list of jobs to do and not enough time to do them in. One of the little jobs I need to do is to fix my Bird necklace.  The poor little bird has fallen off his perch and now looks dead at the bottom of the cage.  This really freaked out the kids when I wore it to kindy one day.

Feels a bit like my energy levels at the moment.

Crochet Bag in Progress

My bag is progressing well and I am happy with my order of colours.   I was a bit worried for a while there as the sides weren't really taking shape and the circle base seemed to be getting bigger and bigger.   Then all of the sudden it took the form of a bowl, whew!

From the bottom looking like a rastafarian hat. 

From the top 

Side view, can you get the gist of it?

This just reminds me of one of those vintage folding colander/steamer things.

Click here to see what other clever bunnies are making - My Creative Space