first tooth

Amelie finally got her first tooth. Little bit grumpy and disturbed at night but not too bad. Sabo isn't so sure though :)

garden update - weekend work

Well we were good and we got our butts into gear (well truthfully Husband Guy did most of the work) and we turned the vege beds over and planted out a bunch of seedlings.  Tomato, basil, rocket, oregano, kale, purple carrot, thyme and some marigolds for companions.  Here are a few snapshots from the weekend.

soccer super star break

the things you find

escapees through the front fence

 

crochet blanket - almost finished

I crocheted the final row last night. I'll just add a little loopy border in the pale pink I think. If you are interested in purchasing this blanket please email me for details.

garden update

It's been a while since I've done a garden update.  Truthfully our back yard looks like a tip since having all the workmen and equipment in and on it.  Our front yard garden beds got really sadly neglected as we weren't actually living here for a while last Spring and then Amelie came and you know, excuses excuses excuses.

rogue parsley around the bins, it's also in the lawn and in other garden beds that we didn't plant it in!

But we have promised ourselves that this weekend is the weekend that the beds get turned over and new stuff planted.  Probably basil and tomatos and some more herbs.  Our rosemary as ever flourishes and we now have rogue parsley!  We've had rogue tomato bushes before, often bearing really yummy tomatos, so now we have parsely too.  It's springing up all over the yard it's hilarious!

I've also promised myself that I'm going to use my big DSLR more.  And hopefully take a course on actually how to use it properly too.  I was fooling around in the garden with it the other day so all these snaps are from that day.

 

my crochet beanie pattern

I've had the pleasure over the last week of making a couple of beanies for a friend who I met through blogging.  She has two dear wee kiddies, with the youngest, Rafa being about the same age as Amelie.  I crocheted quite quickly (2 in 2 days) beanies for Ana and Rafa but struggled with the one for Mum.  Finally after looking at and starting several different patterns I decided just to wing it and hope for the best.  To say I'm super thrilled with how this turned out would be a slight understatement!

Now I have written down what I did because this is exactly the type of beanie I had hoped to make for myself before we went to Melbourne but didn't know how to and didn't have enough time.  I keep thinking that there must be some magical mathematical formula for beanie making.  Like head circumference divided by 3 and times by your shoe size (?) gives you the number of rows to do before going straight down.  But alas apparently not.  Might get the engineer to work on that for me!

I used 8 ply (DK I think that is) wool on a 5.5mm hook.  For the last part I switched to a 3.5mm hook to give a tighter weave.

Chain 4 and make a circle
Chain 3 (counts as first treble/US dc) then do 11 more trebles in the ring and slip stitch to close
Chain 3 (counts as first treble/US dc) then do 2 trebles in each stitch (24 in total)
Chain 3 (counts as first treble/US dc) then alternate, 2 trebles in a stitch, 1 treble in a stitch.
Do 3 more rows of this.  Add or subtract a row if your head is smaller or larger.
Then 5 rows of a treble crochet in each stitch.
Switch to your 3.5mm hook. 
I then did 6 or 7 rows of double crochet (US sc) to make the band.

Double crochet (US sc): insert hook through stitch, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (two loops on hook), yarn over and pull through both loops on hook.

Treble crochet (US dc):   yarn over, insert hook through stitch, yarn over, pull the loop back through the stitch (three loops on hook), yarn over and pull through two loops on hook (two loops left on hook), yarn over and pull through remaining two loops.

what blogging looks like

Check me out over at the Contemporary Handmade Alliance again here talking about what blogging looks like.

3 Guys

I just had to share this photo from today. Not 2 but 3 Guys at work building gates for the deck so that Miss Amelie won't be able to escape when she starts to crawl. And so we can lock the dogs off when we have company.

crochet hair clips

Off the back of the stall I had at Guy's kindy I received an order for 8 crochet hair clips.  They are going off to their new home tomorrow to 2 little girls in a mix of school and social colours.  Do you know anyone who would like a cute hair clip or brooch?

fabric scraps from red seed studio

I did a screen printing workshop with Ellie from Red Seed Studio a couple of years ago and have been keeping up with her blog and more recently on instagram. When she said the other day that she had studio scrap packs for sale I jumped straight online and snapped up a couple.  Perfect for new cushions for the couch I think!

more little blankets

I've been working away on this blanket for a couple of weeks while watching the Olympics. It's not going overly fast for some reason?! It is crocheted from the same cotton mix that little Guy's is made from.  I think I'm going to gift this one unless someone wants to buy it first.