Blogaversery # 3

It's that time of year again and as the year comes to a close, I am left scratching my head, where has the year gone? 2011 has been a productive year for me professionally, personally and for craft. I have finished some UFO's, created more to finish next year and tackled a few new craft projects. This year I learnt how to spin, tried my hand at Fair Isle knitting, attended the Bendigo Wool Show and the Craft Fair, sent 10 beanies to the Alice Springs Beanie Festival and made 6 bambinos.
Here are six of my favourite projects for 2011.
Craft: Knitting:And patchwork: I hope that your 2011 was a productive craft year too. Thank-you for reading my blog this year. Wishing you all a safe and happy new year. Happy crafting in 2012!

Completed Christmas Banner

This afternoon in between some gardening and cleaning, I stitched on the last of the binding and sewed on the star buttons to complete the Christmas banner from the Sew Happy Me Christmas sew along (SAL).
I have hung the banner up on our fire place and I am very happy with the results. This was a great sew along to participate in.

Green and Rainbow Knitting

Recently I completed some baby knitting with some of the most beautiful yarn I have worked with yet. I knitted 3 baby items, a jacket, booties and a beanie from some Maple coloured, Luxury 8 ply DK Pure Wool by Jo Sharp. I had this in my stash and it was originally destined for a top for me. But after starting the top 4 or 5 years ago I decided that it was no longer to my taste and pulled it out. I think that the yarn came up well as baby knits. The hat and jacket are patterns from the book 'Baby Knits for Beginners' by Debbie Bliss and the booties pattern is a Pattons' one.
The other yarn I have recently had the pleasure of working with is this lovely rainbow I purchased from Kathy's Fibres at the Bendigo Wool and Sheep Show. I loved working with this, it was exciting seeing how the rainbow colours came together as I knitted this beanie. I now need to decided what to knit with the rest of this yarn. The pattern for this hat is the same as for the green above with a curl instead of a pom pom. After using these beautiful yarns and loving the results, I think that I need to make an effort to work only with quality yarn and to avoid being seduced by the price of lesser quality yarn.

Wrist Warmers and Fair Isle Knitting

Over winter this year I made several pairs of wrist warmers.
A pair for a friend of mine.
Some for my mum. And a pair for me from some beautiful hand spun alpaca yarn I got at last years Alice Springs beanie festival. This winter I also experimented with some fair isle knitting. I love this yellow beanie, but I need to make it again. It is too small for my head because I didn't follow the pattern. I did not change the needle size during the fair isle stage. I will defiantly make it again, but follow the pattern properly next time.
The other fair isle knitting I did was this heart beanie and wrist warmers. I made up set to enter the spotlight knitting competition. I must write up the pattern properly so I can make another one.

Christmas Sew Along

I have been participating in Sew Happy Me's Christmas sew along (SAL) of a Christmas stitchery banner. It's a lovely design and I managed to mostly keep up with the weekly block. I loved logging onto the computer each Saturday to see what that weeks block was. I have chosen a Christmas stripe to finish the banner in and hope to have it completed soon. A big thank-you to Sew Happy Me for being so generous in sharing this project. (If you missed out on participating I understand that the pattern is for sale on her blog.)

3 Bambino's

On the weekend I completed my last bambino pack. Late last year I brought 5 packs of material to make them from Gail B. I have given most of them away as presents to friends and family. The pattern is from Melly and Me. They are very cute when they are made up.

Vibrant Can Can

At the craft fair this year I brought a ball of Can Can yarn. It was a 200 gram ball and when I brought it the lady told me it would make 2 scarves (one for me and one for mum). She was right and this afternoon I finished the second scarf. They were a little bit fiddly at times, but quick to knit up once I got started. I think the results are vibrant!

Hand Made Wedding Keepsake

My cousin is getting married today. Congratulations Stuart and Kristin. I can wait to see you guys later and to celebrate with you on your special day. Love and best wishes to you both.

Beanie for Husband

Here is the beanie I made for my husband. I have made many beanies for other people and I thought it was about time I made one for him.

Stash Busting: 4 ply Wool

This post has been a long time in the making! At least 18 months and at least 14 balls of wool.
When we lived on the coast, there was a small craft store in the local town that sold all sorts of craft supplies and wool. When the owner had 1 or a few balls of wool left over from a dye lot she would sell them at a discount. Being a lover of wool, especially 4ply, I had collected quite a few of these odd balls. There was never enough wool to make a large garment, usually only enough to make a hat or other small accessory. In my stash I also had a few 4ply balls of wool that my mum had from when my brothers and I were little and a few cheep ones I had picked up from spotlight.
I decided that I needed to stash bust and use up all these odd balls of wool before I could get stuck into some bigger knitting projects. We have a small house with limited storage and I am always trying to be conscious of using what I have. I do not want my craft stash to get out of control as it currently already takes up 1 room.
What you are seeing here is some of the completed projects from my 4ply stash busting. I now hope to tackle some larger knitted garments, maybe even a few for me. Happy knitting!

Gift for a Baby Boy

Friends of ours recently welcomed a baby boy into the world. Here is the hand made gift I made for him.

Craft Fair 2011

Last Friday mum and I went to our 7th craft fair. Its our annual event. I bring lunch and drive into the city and mum gets the tickets. It's something that we look forward to all year. Its a fantastic event. Mum and I come away from the fair inspired and with new supplies for the craft stash and for current projects. Its also a great opportunity to see the current trends in craft and the new and exciting products available. I managed to stick to my budget on the day (however, the next day at spotlight). I purchased some day light lamps from the scissor man. He had a great deal on a floor lamp and a portable lamp. I also purchased some fabric, needles for felting, the cutest bunny soft toy pattern ever and other bits and pieces. I also purchased this amazing yarn. It's called 'Can Can.' One ball of wool will make 2 scarves. I loved the bunny pattern so much, I made a bunny the next day. He is so cute. I think I will be making may more. farewell craft fair, we will see you again next year.

Dress Up Party

My family and I are going to a 1950s dress up party for one of my uncles birthday. We have been busy getting our outfits ready. When I was home last, I helped my mum and one of my sister in laws prepare their outfits by making some petticoats. One is plain silky material the other has silky material and bridal netting added to give it some volume. I was having trouble finding something to wear for myself. My other sister in law gave me a dress from to modify. It originally had awful selves and was impossible to get on. I changed the top by removing the sleeves and adding straps. I also added a zip in the side. It has been a successful modification and I am looking forward to the party.

More Dog Pyjamas

We are currently looking after my husband's parent's dog, Junior, while they are caravaning around Australia sampling the grey nomadic lifestyle. When my brother and his partner were recently over for lunch my sister in law commented that Junior had "the poor cousins pyjamas" compared to Buck. I agreed, his old pairs were looking a bit shabby. So I made some new ones and put the old ones in the bin.

The Australian Sheep and Wool Show

On Friday my husband and I went to The Australian Sheep and Wool Show in Bendigo. It was fantastic. I loved looking at all the different breeds of sheep and watching the dog trails. Here are some the sheep we looked at.
There were also a small number of goats. There was a great inspiring display of the hand crafts people had made for exhibiting in the competition. I also loved the fantastic variety of craft supply stalls filled with fleece, wool tops, other various fibers, bats, wool skeins, balls of wool, felt, knitting needles, crochet hooks, kits and souvenirs. The quality of the products available was unbelievable. I managed to be very restrained. I only purchased 3 skeins of wool and a few other bits and pieces. I could have gone mad!I am really looking forward to finding the perfect project for this skein of wool and the 2 of 50/50 wool and silk. For now, I am content with leaving them on the dressing table for display and stroking them occasionally as I walk past. I don't know if this is a show I would attend every year. But I am defiantly keen to go back some time.

Buck's Pyjamas

My brothers dog gets cold overnight because he only has short fur. I made him some pyjamas. He looks so cute in them and apparently he loves to wear them. With the left over material I made my brother and sister in law some wrist warmers. The wrist warmers were super easy to make. They are a tube with a thumb hole and some ribbing on either end.