Christmas Stockings Completed

Here they are. The Christmas Stockings, all finished.

I am pretty happy with how they turned out.

Here is Digby, he has grown and has had a hair cut. So cute!

Christmas Stockings

I thought that I might like to make the girls a Christmas Stocking each. So I popped into Spotlight to check out the Christmas fabric. I'm not usually a big fan of Christmas fabric, but I was pleasantly surprised.

Weel both of those pictures should be the other way around. Oh dear what is happening with blogger? Hopefully you can turn you head to see the cute pictures of the trees and snowflakes on the top one.

I think I can make very nice stockings with these.

Tomorrow night I have my sewing group Christmas night. We are making a secret santa gift for someone in the group. I hope they like my one.

Dog Vs Tree

What could these be?

Yes, they are the decorations I have made over the years, spending hours sewing on little pretty things to make the tree look lovely. Except the koala, he was given to me by my mum.

They have all met a sad fate with Digby the dog. Oh dear! Our Christmas tree now has a gap at the bottom were there are no decorations. Did this work, ah well, no. Digby seems to see this as a challenge to make him jump higher to the decorations!

We are working on it!

Gingerbread House

My lovely sister in Sydney makes a gingerbread house every Christmas. If I still lived in Sydney I know I would go along with her, so I decided to make my own with the girls.

I bought a kit rather than trying to make the gingerbread myself. I though the first time, I didn't want to have to worry about that too.

It was great fun, the girls had fun popping on all the lollies and trying to eat the icing out of the bowl. We will definitely doing this again next Christmas.

December Rush

It has been a busy time with birthdays, parties and jazz performances. Not all me though.

The biggest monkey had her first show and I have come to the conclusion, I am not a show mum. All of the rehearsals, make up and costume dramas were beyond me. I just wanted her to get on the stage and have a great time. And luckily she did, all the time with a huge smile on her cute little face.

I was my birthday last week. I was thoroughly spoilt with my husband taking the day off, taking me to lunch and giving me jewellery. What more could you ask for, really.

The Christmas knitting has been finished and will be popped in the post today to the recipient.

In fact almost all of the Christmas shopping has been completed. I hate the crowds that wander around the shops at Christmas time. I just want to get in and get what and want and get home to do some knitting or the like!!

We put up the Christmas tree with the monkeys.

The weather has been fantastic, very strange for this time of year. We even got out the water slide.
Who knew they throw rubber chickens for athletics day, fantastic!!

New Wool

My Mum was very generous and bought me some wool from a shop near her home. She gave it to me on her recent visit.

Mum and I have very similar taste, so of course I think it is lovely. It's very soft.

I'm enjoying thinking about what I should knit with it. I'm also continuing knitting the secret Christmas present. I will have to finish that first.

Birthdays

The craft fair was somewhat successful. I managed to sell some of my softies, bibs and brooches. I didn't sell any of my bags, which I was disappointed about. Many people did give me some lovely complements though. That was very nice.

We had an extra busy weekend, with Mum arriving for a visit and a very big 4 year old birthday party. Luckily the Auckland spring weather held and the sun shone. Here is the cake.

We also celebrated Kashin's birthday on Sunday. She is an elephant at the zoo which little monkey has fallen in love with. We even have our own Kashin at home to cuddle at bed time.

Here is Kashin and her best friend Burma with their faces painted for the birthday party. The girls loved it and there were loads of fun things to do for the party. Well done Auckland Zoo, it was fantastic.

There are many craft things going on at the moment, but they are Christmas presents for people who may read the blog. I wouldn't want to spoil the surprise.

New member of the family

I have finished two more bags for the fair. I love the red one and am not sure I will be able to sell it.

I also looked at the cardigan I started and decided the pink was just too pink for me. I took it off the needles and cast on for a scarf each for the girls. It's much more their colour.

The pattern was from the knitting daily emails that I get. They usually want you to buy something from them, but there are some cool free things too.

And last but certainly not least here is our new puppy. He is the most gorgeous boy. He's a Cavoodle (cross between a King Charles Cavalier Spaniel and a Poodle). The girls love him and we do too!

New Bags

I'm still sewing bags for the craft fair coming up. Here are some more that have been finished.

I think because I have girls, I am always drawn to the girl fabrics most of the time. I couldn't resist this car fabric though.

I love this pink spot, it looks great with the pink bugs!

Local Library

I have been enjoying the local library lately, they seem to have an endless supply of books that I need to borrow.

These are the latest lot that I found yesterday. I really cherish books and usually want to own them. This ends up being a very expensive habit, so the library works well at reducing the cost.

This one is interesting, but I don't think I'll give it a go.

This has lovely scarf patterns.

I got totally confused by this, I would love to give it a go having two socks finished at the same time would be great.

Some nice patterns.

Love this book, it is great!!

My mum spun when I was little and the spinning wheel lived in the lounge until I broke it. Only now do I understand how mad my mum must have been. I would love to do some spinning and might have to get a spindle to start with.

New Knitting

I found this magazine at the local shop and thought I had to buy it. Now I have cast on for a little summer cardigan in pink Smoothie.

We were very pleased to finally eat some of our cauliflower from the garden. They have been sitting there all winter doing nothing and then as soon as the weather warmed up we had two huge ones.

French Market Bag

I thought I might have a go at felting, so I decided to make the French market bag.


I had some left over Cascade 200 from my Bluebell jumper and away I went. I love to knit on something that you don't have to think about. I was also knitting socks and following those patterns closely, so this one the good one to do when I didn't want to concentrate.

Then I popped it into the machine and this is how it came out.

I did want to take a photo before the machine, but the camera was out of batteries and I couldn't wait to see how it would look.

I used some different wool for the stripe and that didn't really felt at all. Look at the difference.

Of course I'm using it as a bag to hold my knitting.

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Don't forget that it is Breast Cancer Awareness Month this month. Wear you pink ribbons with pride and remember all those lovely ladies who have lost the fight. Earlier this year I lost a friend to breast cancer and she was the same age as me with a small child.

Please check your breasts and give money to help stop any more mums, sisters, daughters, aunts and friends having to face this nasty cancer.

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After a long absence

Oh dear this winter has hit our house hard and everyone has had something nasty. I am now almost over a sinus infection that refused to leave my head. Luckily after a month of antibiotics, it has given in.

I have still been busy doing other crafty things. What else do you do when you don't have enough energy to leave the house?

I finished my smoothie vest and am pretty happy with it. The arm holes are too big, I think. But I have got over that and am wearing it and enjoying it.

Here are my socks of kindness all finished. I really loved making these socks, they are lovely. I need to remember though, my feet are tiny and not all patterns for regular people will fit me. I may have to alter next time.

This is the new pair of socks in progress. Luckily the pattern has a small size for me. I'm working on the second one at the moment. I love this yarn! It has nylon in it and the finished sock is wonderful.

Lastly I have been busy preparing for my first craft fair. I have decided to give it a go in November and see if anyone would like to purchase some of my things. I will be selling bags, little soft toys, bibs and a couple of other small things.

Here are the bags getting ready to go.

I hope you're enjoying spring down here!

Boatneck Bluebell

Well I have finished my jumper and I am really pleased with the result. The only thing that I am a little worried about is the wide neck. It is meant to be a boatneck, but it is very wide.

I enjoyed knitting this from the Fitted Knits book by Stafanie Japel. The pattern was very easy to follow and knitting the whole thing on a circular needle was great.

Man, taking your own photo is hard.

Smoothie

This is the back of my vest knitted with Smoothie. I really like the colour as it is grey with a purple hint.

It is very easy to knit with and I am hoping to finish the front just as quickly.

Sewing afternoon

I have been busy this afternoon sewing after a craft cupboard clean-up.

I decided to make a knitting needle holder for all of the sets I have. I made up a pattern and used this great fabric which always cheers me up.

Then I needed a bag to hold my new knitting project. I am knitting a vest from Smoothie DK. Not my usual choice as I normally pick wool, but it is going along nicely. Hopefully it won't be too warm for spring when it gets here. I love this fabric too.

Finished Scarf

I have finished my drop stitch scarf and I am very happy with it. The wool is really soft and the pattern was easy to remember.

Our weather has been pretty cold and I am looking forward to being able to wear it soon.

Busy, Busy.

I have been busy sewing for the little monkey who is obsessed with skirts and dresses. Hopefully she will like this one, as she is very fussy! It is made of corduroy and the pattern was so simple (Simplicity 5489 half price at Spotlight)

I was really lucky to receive some wonderful sewing things from my husband's gran. They included an amazing collection of buttons. I have used two from the collection on the dress. Thank you Judith for giving me such great treasures.

The knitting is going well too with the easy drop stitch scarf almost finished.

And the socks are coming along too. I think this pattern can be pretty confusing, but it might just be that I am not paying enough attention! I do think they will turn out really well.

I have also had a wonderful visit with family in Sydney for my brother in laws 40th birthday. It was a great party and so much fun to have time with my sister. Thank you for having me.