16 days in NZ

I'm freshly back from 16 days hiding in NZ :)

My husband was heading off for 3weeks in Thailand for work, and I really didn't want to do 3weeks on my own with the monkeys, so I decided to invite ourselves to my Mum's house for a little holiday.

As with any time I make a trip away, I always take a magnificently ambitious haul of yarn 'that I'm going to knit all up while I'm away'. Yeh right!!!!

I had grand plans of finishing all sorts of WIPs while I was over there, am while I managed a fair bit of knitting, it wasn't the items I had hoped for.....woops!

So in no particular order, things that I started and finished over there (instead of doing kniting that I should have been doing!):

Kaia Babydoll (pattern by Rachel Evans). NB size in BWM 8ply cotton for the bodice and hem, and Moda Vera Tranquil acrylic in 'candy' for the skirt.

I altered the CO numbers to make the neckline a little more 'square' rather than rectangular in shape, and I also did garter stitch framing around the neckline/armholes.

Obviously it still needs the ribbon!

This is one of the items that I started and finished while away, and is for my sister's stash of gifts for NB babies :)

This started out life being called 'Tranquil' (in honour of the brand name of the wonderfully soft acrylic), however as I knit it I quickly realised the colourway itself was anything but Tranquil....and renamed it 'Not So Tranquil'

Pebble (pattern by Nikol Lohr)

NB sized, again in Moda Vera Tranquil......this time the "sorbet" colourway. Friends that are on Ravelry have been sharing a wee giggle a the name I gave this project - "blurple".....as in "bleurgh! It's purple!". I really am not too fond of purple, especially pale purples.

And once again, this is for my sisters gift stash.

The leftovers from "blurple" were combined with remnants of Debbie Bliss Eco Cotton to become a dishcloth for my sister:

One strand of the MV Tranquil, and one of the DB Eco Cotton on 8.0mm needles, knit in a reverse mitre pattern.

And on dishcloths......I also started and finished a dishcloth for Mum -  in purple (ewwwww):

This cloth was actually the first knit up of a free dishcloth pattern I plan to set free just before Christmas.

Then just for something different to distract me from the WIPs I should have been working on, I knit a cute wee sheep:

He was meant to be my first 'Toy Society' drop, however Leo took a real shine to him...doh! I couldn't bear to part a boy from his sheep :)

I managed a few more things, but might keep them a bit quite for a little longer methinks :)

Chantilly

My sister is of the age now where lots of her friends are just starting to have babies. Sadly she is not all that interested in wndering down that path.......yet......but one day!

When Sheena goes to visit a new baby, she likes to take something handmade for them as a giftie. She has only just picked the sewing machine back up, and so is whipping up a few floor rugs and such to use for gifts, but she also really likes to give knit cardy's/hats/booties etc - alas....she can't knit though!

Thankfully both myself and my Mum knit, so she has commandeered us to organise a few things for her.

Last week I picked up a cute wee Milo vest for Sheena's gift box from Megan at littlethings. Megan is a very crafty wee bunny that lives on the West Coast of the South Island in NZ. She's a mum to one little man, with a second wee bubby on the way, and has a rather boring day job, which she counters by doing beautiful crafty things!

However, this week I decided to get off my tush and do some knitting myself for Sheena, as our Mum is rather busy at the moment to manage anything (kitchen reno's, demanding job, end of year wind up with her Girl Guides district). Sheena (being the good sort that she is) had supplied Mum with a bag of yarn she had picked up at sales, in the hope that Mum might magically transform the bag of balls into a bundle of cute knitted goods. Unfortunately the only criteria that Sheena follwed when purchasing the yarn was that it was 'soft' (suggested by my Mum), and 'cheap' (my sister is the ultimate scroogemeister!!!!). And she did just that.....picking up a heap of yarn for only $1 or $2/ball, however it is not really what I would call 'baby' suitable. Most of it is handwash only, but I decided to go with it anyway (well, after phoning S and adding a new criteria to her yarn hunting........'soft' and 'machine washable').

First to be finished is a wee Milo in Moda Vera Chantilly.

Ravelry classes this yarn as a worsted weight, however it is knit on 5.5mm needles, and I did a wrap test and found it is actually bulky/12ply. The yarn is a combo of wool and soy, and it is a single ply....so divine to the touch. Unfortunately this also means it will full like crazy...and hence I am NOT going to wash and block it before I send it off *blush*

I did number crunching to alter the pattern gauge from 8ply and 22sts/10cm on 4.0mm needles to 12ply and 16sts/10cm on 6.0mm needles. As you can imagine, there were not a whole lot of stitches to cast on!
The neckline is done with a Twisted German Cast On, so stretches for miiiiles, and I omitted the cables, opting instead to continue the garter stitch along each side, which truth be told is my favourite way to do a Milo (spot the girl that hates knitting cables).

The vest used a little over 50g of yarn, and so with the remaining part ball I will knit a matching wee hat - the Garter Brim Baby Hat, which looks like it is made just to go with the Milo Vest...wub, wub!

Te RJ

So.....apparently the kiwi has been christened Te Rangi Jandal, or Te RJ for short.

I'm not completely sold on the name, but husband likes it, so thats what it will be :)

He did send me another couple of pictures of Te RJ last night that I thought I might share:

(Te RJ with partof his namesake...Jandals)

(lookie, he found a baseball cap at the beach!)

ok, so the husband is not a photographer by any stretch of the imagination ;)

kiwi update!

Just a quick update on the kiwi and it's travels......

Kiwi arrived in Phuket, Thailand in the early hours of yesterday morning, after a cramped 12hr plane journey in hubby's suitcase.

While he didn't love the journey, he reckons it wasn't too bad...especially as he gets to surround himself in lovely scenery now he has been let out of the suitcase :)

Hopefully some more 'interesting' pictures of the kiwi turn up today or tomorrow

kiwi

Our family are all New Zealanders, but we have resided in Australia since our youngest, Leo, was 3months old. As a family we uprooted and moved here to Queensland to follow my husband and his work. This meant leaving behind all our friends and family, as well as most of our possessions (we decided it would be a fresh start and literally moved over with ourselves plus 12 boxes of 'stuff'...no furniture, and limited posessions), selling everything else back in NZ.

We really love it here in QLD (who wouldn't? the weather is fab, it feels 'safe' etc), but will always think of ourselves as NZ'ers living in Australia (well I know I will...perhaps not the kids?).

Recently my husband and I were chatting as I was knitting in the evening. On this occassion I was knitting a toy for the Softies for Mirabel drive, and jokingly said I should knit up one for him and he could take it away on his business trips and take photos of the creature in different spots around Asia/Australia/NZ/Pacific Islands. Mr knit.so.quaint seemed quite keen on this idea, but not so much on the wee monster I was making. I could see the little cogs working away in his head, then he came out with 'could you make me a kiwi?'. Sure can I said....come, lets visit Ravelry, LMAO!

So we toodled over to the computer (no laptop in our house sadly) where I found the Crazy Kiwi Bird pattern by Hannah Kaminsky. You can download a copy of the pattern at Hannah's blog, Bittersweet.

S decided this would be perfect so off I set to create it.

We decided on Moda Vera Soul for the body (well S thought a deeper chocolate brown would be better but I swayed him to this lighter brown), and Monsoon Designs Sunny Sock in Rumpelstiltskin for the beak and feet.

The kiwi used less than 50g of yarn total, and measures about 27cm from beak tip to his bottom.

The pattern is knit seamlessly in the round, starting at the head, and finishing at the butt. You then construct the legs and beak and attach them.

I actually think next time I may start the construction with the beak then move straight to the body, jsut changing colours at the transtition rather than casting off then attaching.

I also constructed the feet differently to the pattern, which I have detailed in my Ravelry project page.

(Check out kiwi having a chinwag with one of our Buzzy Bees!)

I believe hubby is quite fond of this wee guy/girl, and is going to chronicle the kiwi's adventures on facebook. The lucky little kiwi is actually off for its first adventure this afternoon.......Phuket, Thailand. Hopefully S will send me some photos sometime over the next week so I can share them here too. Wonder what sort of adventures he will get up to?!?!

competitions and an award

Today I share a special post......a post declaring the winner of a recent competition I hosted, a post sharing the parcels heading out to earlier competition winners, and also a sharing a wee award that I was given.

First things first, who won my Softies for Mirabel competition?

Thanks for entering correctly

Julia

Hannah

Ali

Amber

simplythis

After much deliberation, I have decided that Hannah is the winner :) She met all three entry criteria, which is a stellar effort in my books!!!! Congrats Hannah. I'm heading over the Tasman next week, so will bring your wee parcel with me and post it mid November (will grab your addy sometime in the next week).
Thanks heaps for entering guys!

Next thing to cross off my list is to share some photos of the parcels heading out to the winners of the Pinny for a Dolly competition I held earlier this month.

I'm not going to say which parcel is for who, but they look like this:

100g Jolly Jumbuck Let Us Eat Lettuce on Persphone Worsted

Rumpus at the Vet by Lynley Dodd

Mini Box bag by Pinky Pig on madeit.com.au

100g Monsoon Designs Azalea on Zippy SD DK

Baby Koala's Bedtime book

Mini Box Bag by Pinky Pig on madeit.com.au

100g Wooltopia Ranforest on BWM Luxury 10ply

Kookaburra book

Mini Box bag from Pinky Pig on madeit.com.au

I decided seeing how the competiton was based around a child's dolly knitting pattern, that the prize would have something for mum (the yarn and the box bag), and something for the kiddy of the household (the book). The books were ones I had picked up in my travels and stashed in my gift box (honestly, if you don;t have a gift box - you neeeed one!). Luckily I had both NZ and Australian themed books, so the 2 Aus themed books are going to the winners in NZ, and the NZ book is off to the Australian winner (so Tanja, you know which one you get LOL).

The Aussie one was posted on Friday, so should arrive Tue/Wed, and for the two kiwi girls - I'm heading your way at the end of next week, so will post your parcels while I am across the ditch.......hope you enjoy! And thanks for taking the time to enter my wee comp :)

And last, but certainly not least, Hannah has awarded me with a Gorgeous Blogger Award:

Isn't that sweet?!

Along with accepting the award you need to share 6 things about yourself that people probably don't know, so here goes........

1) I'm a Libran, born in the Chinese year of the Boar. Sadly this creates a rather unfortunate combination of an indecisive person that loves life's luxuries, but can't decide whether she deserves them or not, and who can't really be bothered doing much exercise. woops!

2) I've got a couple of family opposites. From my Mum's side of the family, her Mum's family were originally drunken louts that arrived in New Zealand from Scotland, and her Dad's family were a long line of Missionaries from England. One wonders how on earth the missionaries started to marry the drunken louts!

The other opposite is grey hair. Sticking with Mum's side of the family, my Nana (Mum's mum) started to go grey in her mid teens, while my Pop (Mum's Dad) didn't start until he was nearly 60yrs old, and now at 74 has only just gone true grey :) I'm well past my mid teens with nary a grey hair...wonder if I'll be like Pop???

3) I have an addictive, and easily swayed personality. Point my nose in the direction of something that I could possibly get addicted to and I'll take the bait. I'm working really hard on this as I grow older, but I'm still prone to wee lapses in common sense LOL. And easily swayed? Sure am! I find myself drawn to strong, loud personalities (which is funny as I'm a very quiet, meek, people pleaser), and if I am not careful I get sucked into the little whirlpools they leave in their wake, and find myself floundering around.

4) I have no religious affiliations. I know a lot of you that read this do have religion, but it is not something I am drawn to in any way shape or form. Just something I am completely not interested in. Thats not to say that I disagree with the concept - I think it is a wonderful idea, and brings many many people a sense of contentment, truth, validity, etc, and for those that get these things from that, I'm very happy for you, its just not for me :)

5) I've seen more people die than you could possibly imagine. My life pre-children was that of one who worked in Australasia's busiest Trauma hospital. I worked in the OR (I am a trained Anaesthetic Technician), mainly in out of hours where you only perform 'life or limb-saving' surgery. My work consisted mostly of women with severe gynae bleeding problems, babies needing to be delivered via caesarean sections, car crashes, aortic aneurysms, stabbings, and severe burns. It was wonderful, challenging work, but on the flipside it involves working with people walking that tightrope between life and death...sometimes no matter how fantastic the team is caring for you, the pull of the otherside is just too strong for us to battle against :(

It is a very humbling feeling being with people as they pass, and one which I will always hold dear.

6) On something a bit more lighthearted - I can do 'crazy eyes' (as my kids call it). It's not a unique abilty by any stretch of the imagination (to go cross-eyed), but my kids (and husband!) delight in how quickly I can transform my eyes, and also how long I can keep them that way. By golly, it hurts my poor eye muscles though!

So now you know a little more about me, and I would like to award this Gorgeous Blogger Award to 5 other people so we can find out a bit more about them!

Firstly, Jo from CrazyCrafter NZ. I love Jo *wink*. She's an absolute doll that I met through The Nappy Network. Craft obsessed (not just knitting!), infact she's just about to release a clever sewing pattern :)

Secondly, Kate from Bib and Tucker. Kate's is only a new blog to me, but I am really enjoying reading the thigns on the pages. Currently is a wonderful wee vegie patch!

Thirdly, Cadi from MaeheGirl. Poor Cadi has been having a bit of a rough time recently, but through it all has been so very inspiring - opening up rather than bottling things up. I admire her tenacity and truthful honesty. you're a real treasure Cadi

Fourth, Neak from Neaks Craft Corner. neak is another of those multi-craft ladies who dabbles in a bit of everything. She's not a prolific blogger, but I always like it when she gets the time and inclination to jot some words down

and finally, Jodie from Jelly Wares. Jodie is a marvel - she seems to manage a bit of everything with ease! She has been the host of two washcloth swaps recently, and I believe there's a third one about to start up :)

The Toy Society

Today I stumbled across an incredible little group called The Toy Society

"The Toy Society spreads the love throughout the streets of the world. Nothing to it really just a bunch of handmade toys looking for a nice home.

What started as a small street art project in Australia is slowly spreading around the world."

How incredibly delightful is that! I'm thoroughly enraptured with the whole concept :D

Basically Toy Society members handcraft toys then leave them in a high traffic, public area, in a watertight bag with a wee tag prominantly saying "I'm yours - take me home!". Inside the bag is the toy and a letter explaining about the Toy Society, and encouraging the finder to visit the Toy Society to blog to let us know they've found the toy :) Obviously they don't have to....but how cool to actually find out that your secret drop has been found and brightened someones day!

It is requested that they are not affiliated with any form of advertising - these toy drops are to be 'no strings' drops; just a simple 'pay it forward....hope this brightens your day' deal, something not dripping in commercialism.

I've become a society member - I've emailed to join, and they've emailed me back all the sneaky info that I need to help put my parcels together. Now my wee noggin is consumed with plans - you see, I will be visiting a few prime 'drop zones' in the next week or three, and this could be a great chance to start my Toy Society journey :)

I'll be passing through airports, on planes, and in a different country to where I normally reside - so these sound like wonderful opportunities to share the love to me!

You'll have to keep an eye out to see when and where I make my first drop..........

LGL Stitch markers

A clever cookie that I met through Ravelry, Karla, has got her own little Stitchmarker 'store' on minicuture, Made by Karla x.

Karla adores making stitch markers, and found that she was simply making too many to keep for herself, so offers the wee treasures up for sale.

She has just started making LGL inspired stitchmarkers. For those that are familiar with the LGL pattern, you will know that it uses markers referred to by letters (A-D) and numbers (1-4). Karla has made up markers with these actually on them, so you don't need to remember which is A or number 3!

She's just uploaded a fresh batch of stitchmarkers to her store now, so swing by and take a squizz :)

PS - not only does she do the LGL inspired ones, but also cute freshwater pearls, fimo cupcakes etc....a huge range of cute things!!!!!

Softies for Mirabel Part I

October is charity crafting month for me :) Last October I did a newborn/prem cardy blitz, which saw me knit 8 cardigans in 20 days which I sent to Knitting for Brisbane's needy

This year I have been on the look out for a different venture, and last week stumbled upon Softies for Mirabel. Softies for Mirabel is a handcrafted softie (toy) drive hosted by meet me at mikes.

They are asking for handcrafted (ie sewn or knit) softies that they will collect and then right before Christmas, deliver them to the Mirabel Foundation for distribution to the children that Mirabel has on it's books.

Borrowed from the MF website: Mirabel assists children who have been orphaned or abandoned due to parental illicit drug use and are now in the care of extended family (kinship care). Mirabel believes that every child deserves a childhood and its mission is to break the destructive cycle of addiction and disadvantage.

This cause really appeals to me, as I grew up, and worked in areas that were greatly affected by substance abuse. It's so sad to see children caught up in these families that don't receive help, and then they go on to do the only thing they have ever known - getting into the seedy side of life themselves :( I think any small step towards helping stop this vicious cycle has got to be a good thing!

I have made a small cash donation through the Mirabel website, and plan to make another when I have finished making my softies, and am currently crafting a few little friends :)

First to be finished is a wee chocolate brown bear:

This bear was knit from Rachael Borello's Henri the Knitted Bear pattern.

It used about 10-15g of worsted weight yarn on 3.0mm needles and only took a few hours to create. The pattern is written for knitting on DPNs (I used ML), and all limbs are knit separately and stitched together.

Since his creation we have been exposing him to loving, wholesome experiences, with the wish that some of that hope and happiness will travel with him to his new house :) My little Leo has been showering him in snuggles, and wee chocolate brown bear has also been spending a bit of time reading books :) Oh, and he's been sleeping in a warm, snuggly bed - my yarn stash!

It would be fabulous if any of you Aussie's reading this could set aside a few hours to create a softie for the appeal - every one created will bring a smile to another wee childs face :) If you're not from Australia, why not see if there is an organisation local to you that would welcome the donation of handcrafted softies?

PS - you can view the softies that have already been contributed this year here - on the Softies for Mirabel flickr group :)

COMPETITION

Get the word about this drive!

The more people that hear about this drive the better, so I am offering a wee competition to help spread the word a little more.

Three ways to get an entry into this wee competition:

First way is : create a softie for the Softies for Mirabel drive by the 31st October, and let me know about it! (probably only applicable to Australian residents unless people are willing to pay international postage)

Second way: Blog about this drive. Make sure you link to the meetmeatmikes and Mirabel foundation websites :) Then let me know!

Third way: guess the titel of the book that wee chocolate brown bear is reading......I want the full name, not jsut the character in the book *wink*

The prize up for grabs is the package of upcycled envelopes from Cat Taylor designs, and a skein of 10ply Pear Tree merino in "Choc Swirl" from The yarn Cafe.

Two gorgeous gifties - hopefully they are incentive to get the word out!!!!!!!

Pinny for a Dolly

Pinny for a Dolly has now been expanded to cover all 4 designs as per The March Sisters Pinafore patterns, and all 3 yarn weights.
As such, the pattern is now a 'pay for' pattern, and is available through Ravelry.



AUS$4

You can still download the free version of Pinny for a Dolly (which has one of the styles, knit in one of the yarn weights), by clicking the link on the top right of my blog.

Happy Knitting!