Nature

I've been very busy these last few weeks with custom orders.  I love custom orders - making that special something for someone and having it come out just as they want.  However, it doesn't leave a lot of time for much else, especially when you work, exercise and have a family as well!

However I took a little time out today to play a little with my camera.  Something I've been wanting to do for a long time - well since we bought it really.  Earlier this year after a pretty frustrating experience trying to take photos of our friends kids with our old camera I pursuaded Mark that what I really needed was a digital SLR.  We spent weeks looking (the one condition of getting it was that I had to throughly research it, not impulse buy as is my usual style - I want it, I must have it NOW) and after much research, reading reviews and trying them out we ended up with an Olympus E520.  All in all I'm pretty rapt with it, the only thing I don't like is that it seems to take dark shots at times - however I'm pretty convinced that's got more to do with the photographer than the camera!!  Next year I am determined to find some time to really read the manual properly, practice more with it and possibly attend a nightclass on photography.

As I sit here and type I can hear the reason why this post is to do with Nature and my Camera.  We have two Tuis that have adopted our neighbourhood.  This is pretty unusual considering we live in the 'burbs, have a cat and the two dogs (and lets not forget the pretty wild kids!!)  Their song is just so beautiful, I could sit in the garden and listen to it all day.  For the last few days we've noticed them feeding from our flax flowers and I've been trying to snap a shot.  This morning after having set my alarm wrong (grrrrr) and being woken at 7am I got up to see one from the window sitting there.  I snuck out and got a couple of shots.  They're not very clear - it was terrible lighting and I didn't want to get too close in case I scared it away - and it does not do their beauty justice at all, their colours are so vibrant and pretty 

Here are some more shots I took while out again this afternoon having seen them fly through our trees.  I didn't manage to get any more shots of the Tui's but this is our backyard:

a Bee in my lavender

Apples on our apple tree (yum!)

 One of the 4 plums we have growing on our new plum tree

   

The brocolli I planted mid winter all has nice sized firm heads on them

               

All the buds on our Manderin tree mean lots of Manderins!!!

    

              

Just a couple of the gorgeous Paua shells I have through the garden

 

Believe it or not Mark only mowed the lawn 5 days ago and look at all the Dasies already!!

I have to apologise for the haphazerd photos - one thing about blogger is that the photos appear normal on my screen as I'm doing the post but when I publish the post so everyone else sees it they change - grrrr, it takes ages to correct and I don't have time currently sorry :-)

Thula Thula

I've been lucky enough, in my ventures into internet selling, to meet some pretty supportive, creative and wonderfully all round lovely people.

Naomi is one of these and I love her stuff so much I must blog about it and share her creations with you all!

It's nice when you meet someone who reminds you of yourself.  I was taught to knit by my Great-Grandmother and sewing was a passion of my Nana and she was taught her skills by her Grandmother's also.  I laughed when she told me she started out with fashions for her Barbies - me too!!  However, what I haven't done, which she has, is trained as a designer, making her own patterns and sewing for herself.  I really admire that she's following her dream and turning her love for her children combined with her love for designing and sewing into a business.

Her brand name is Thula Thula (pro-nounced t'ula).  I asked her where the name came from and she said that it's a Zulu word meaning 'Hush' (she's married to a South African so there's also that connection as well) and to her it  reflects the innocence of children and their adventurous spirit within.  Her clothes are simple classic cuts for girls and boys, using her love of silhouettes from the 30's/40's.  They're also road tested by her own children so you can be assured of practicality and quality.

Worth a special mention is Naomi's new range, just in it's begining stages, of prem clothes.  There's always a gap in the market for these I feel so it's really nice to see someone taking the time to think of the preemies (and that reminds me, I must hurry up with my preemie items I have in mind!)

Well enough of sounding like an info-mercial (and I have to add here - I'm not one of those bloggers who puts things on because I'm paid to do it (no offence intended to those blogs) but if I've written it up here it's truly because I love the product!!)   Go and check her out:

Thula Thula

Thula Thula ETSY

The Verdict is in .....

Harper is not pregnant :-(

I've had a few requests for info so thought I'd better fill you all in as soon as I knew.  Looks like we may have to go down the AI road.  I dunno but for a dog, it just doesn't seem right LOL!!  However I'll leave you with a couple of photos just to show you how cute she is and convince myself that her puppies will be even cuter!!

Death

These last two weeks my family has been hit by death.  A tragic, unexpected, heart-breaking death.  One of my parent's closest friends, a beautiful lady whom I have known for over 30 years,  passed over and we said our goodbyes to her on Sunday and Monday.  I have been hit by her death harder than any other I've ever experienced.  Maybe because other close deaths I've known have been grandparents who, while still very sad, are not unexpected.  I find myself waking, like I have an internal alarm clock, every night for the past 2 weeks at 3.18am in the morning - I wake, I roll over, look at the clock and it's always the same time.  Then I toss and turn for a couple of hours and over and over in my head is my Mum telling me and my feeling of disbelief - that first inital thought of 'no, she didn't just say that, I must have misheard'. 

On top of that we found out a couple of months ago that a very much loved family member is terminal and I also find myself thinking often of him.  Bracing myself for the inevitable, hoping that it's later rather than sooner, trying to think of what to say when we see him.  It's very hard.

I'm very tired and I'm sure my eyes look like I have an extreme case of hayfever they're so puffy.  In fact when I went back to work yesterday even my male co-workers were asking if I was OK so I figured I really must look as bad as I felt!!

I'm not ashamed to admit I'm very, very scared of death.  The fragility that is life, something that can be taken in a second, a bad decision, a wrong turn.  The visit to the Dr for a cold that won't clear to walk out knowing you don't have long left.  And not just my own, but my husband, children, parents and friends.  The people who are nearest and dearest to me.

About now re-reading my post sounds like I'm having a little pity party here on the computer all for myself but I'm not.  I just wanted to impart to those of you reading to celebrate your life and those of your loved ones.  Work and money is not everything.  Take the time to relax and enjoy your life and hug someone and tell them you love them everyday.  Live for the moment because you really don't know what is around the corner.

Ravelry

If you're a knitter out there then I'm sure you know what Ravelry is.  If not then you need to go to http://www.ravelry.com/ and join.  If you're not a knitter - don't bother - it won't interest you (and I mean that in the nicest possible way - it's a total knitting community!).

I however, love Ravelry.  I've found projects and patterns to do and seen yarn to drool over.  I've joined many groups and made lots of friends, both here in Lower Hutt and overseas.  One such group was the button and stitch marker swap group.  The idea behind it was that we were given one person to send a small parcel to which included 6 buttons and 6 stitch markers.  I sent off my parcel to my swap buddy and patiently waited for mine to arrived.

In record time it turned up and WOW!!!  Was I spoilt - I shall never want for a stitch marker again, she made me 6 sets of six, all different sizes from sock to bulky.  Here are some photos so you can see just how spoilt I was:

All in green - my absolute favorite colour (I rather suspect I was stalked LOL!).  Thank you very much Joan, I love them all and you totally made my week!

That neglected feeling .....

Well blog, sorry to say you've been a bit neglected this last week and a bit. Life is busy, busy, busy!!

It's school holidays over here in New Zealand and they go so quickly. We've had a very peaceful week though as Brittany went to Taupo with friends so there's been none of that brotherly-sisterly love (otherwise known as fighting!!) happening. To top it off we managed to farm off Gareth for the weekend to Nana and Grandad's - BLISS!!

Not that I don't adore my children but it's nice to have some time out every now and then. Now I'm sitting in my lovely clean, tidy house, dogs at my feet and waiting for Mark to come downstairs so we can go and treat ourselves to coffee down the mall and a bit of shopping time. What's even nicer is that when we come home it will still be clean and tidy.
I have managed to get a few things done - couple of hats, pair of socks and a secret product that I'm working on and can't wait to finish. Hopefully it'll be done by tomorrow and I can show you all.

Well Mark's here so this is a short post, just so you don't feel unloved xxxx

Lame Pig Costume coming up

Well there it is, as promised, the lame pig costume I whipped up for Britt with a day's notice. I'm actually still amazed she chose to be a pig - Wilbur actually if you're wondering what pig - I mean seriously with all those amazing characters why a pig?? She could have been Fern, Nancy Drew, Hermione.... and many others but no, a pig *sigh*

Friday's Fabulous Finds

I'm thinking I should actually call this 'Saturday's Fabulous Finds' LOL - ugh, when I work a Friday then I don't seem to be able to sit down and write it out!!

Today I am starting at the begining, the begining of how I got my knitting mojo back :-)

About 5 years ago I was in a real funk when it came to my knitting. I have always loved knitting (well mostly, when I was 13 and my best friend Justine came up with this nutty plan of having a sleepover that involved staying awake knitting till we were finished our current project, I wasn't too rapt with it at 3 in the morning. I'm also pretty sure I remember Mum wasn't too rapt either as we woke her up!!) However as the kids grew up and life became busier, I started back in paid employment but now had a family and home to look after too, projects took longer and longer to complete and I'd finally finish something to find out the kids had outgrown it. To top it off they both decided to moan and complain that wool was too itchy and hot so then all that hard work didn't often get worn.

So, I didn't knit for a wee bit. However then I found Lolly one day when I was surfing the net. I honestly have no idea how I stumbled across her site but wow, what an inspiration. She hadn't been knitting for long but her absolute love of it shone through in her blog posts. I sat there that night and read through all her old posts and looked at her projects. I admit I feel a little stalkerish at times - after all this is someone who I've never met in person and who has no idea who I am, yet I read about her life and her passions often, but she just inspired me so much that I picked up my needles again and have not put them down again for a long time!! In fact, I think I have an even bigger love of knitting now. Her blog posts introduced me to Ravelry, free net patterns and designs that I would never have found down at the local knit world. I'm inspired to buy sock wool and try out things that I wouldn't have.

If you want to check her out - here's her blog here:

http://www.lollygirl.com/

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

I don't know what to write about......

but I promised myself I'd do a post in between every Friday Find and as tomorrow is Friday here in NZ and there's a new Find coming I had to slip something in!!

So here are the highs and lows of my week (yeah I know, boring!!!):

HIGHS:

• I joined the gym!!!


• I LOVE it - I've been 3 times now and today after a pretty blurgh morning I toughed out 30 whole minutes of hard cardio and felt like I could have done more (but had just had my weight programme done and he'd given me a bit of a drilling on going too far to fast so was good instead!)


• I made my daughter a pretty lame pig costume - it's book character day at school and she's going as Wilbur. Seriously though, why a pig??? Couldn't it have been something pretty - shots up soon!


• I went to knitting group - yay for Stitch and Bitch, it's definately high up there on the highlight list.


• I've been reminded that I have some pretty awesome friends - both old and new ones thank you all :-)


• I've finished another hat and have almost finished another top down cardi - yay for easy patterns


• My new business cards arrived and they look ultra cool


• The Silver Ferns whipped Australia's backside - though I do question why they couldn't have done some whipping earlier and won us the series!!

OK now I'm rereading and my highlights are really boring but oh well, that's what you get when life's so busy LOL!!!

LOW'S - not many

• We lost netball against a team that were quite frankly bitches - why, why, why do teams play in social grades if they want to pretend they're the Silver Ferns???


• I have to work tomorrow due to an appointment today, I always feel so hard done by when I have to work Friday, it just feels wrong.


• We still have no idea if my stupid boy dog (though very lovable) managed to get it on with my girl dog so it's a waiting game to see if we'll have puppies soon or not - grrrrrr I want to know NOW, I'm no good at this waiting thing.

And on that note I'll leave you with this cute photo:

Friday's Fabulous Finds

OK, OK, it's actually Saturday here in NZ - so I'm running late, that's pretty much the norm for me sorry :-)

Today it's all about the craft I don't do. I pretty much do them all - I knit (no, really?), sew, embroider, scrapbook, mosiac - probably easier to list what I don't do and that's paint (just cannot get the hang of it!) and crochet.

However I don't need to crochet as if I ever need any I'll just ask the super-talented Janis to do it for me :-) Janis not only crochets she is constantly making up new designs as well, in a matter of days!!! I am totally in awe of the wonderful stuff that she's constantly doing.
Not only does she do all that but she's a pretty darn good friend as well. She's really helped me out over the last few months with my ETSY store, on raverly and for some good old fashioned venting when needed - I don't think I've actually ever said it properly but thanks Janis - it sure is appreciated!

You can check her out here:

http://www.marshmellowmagic.etsy.com/

and just to tempt you here are some photos of her latest creations





Go check her out - it's well worth a visit and if you want to see Janis' blog - it's there to the left under blogs I follow :-)

Pirouettes, Pliés and Tutu's

Well OK, babies can't actually do the first two but they can wear tutu's and it sounded good having some French in the title!!

Baby's First Ballet Cardigan:

I'm so over the moon at how this turned out! I have to admit I had help - I had the Classic Shepherd pattern that I used when Brittany was doing ballet as how I wanted it to look overall and I had my secret weapon that helped me size it (I'm sure how I did it meant that it took extra time but it worked!) and I had an old vintage pattern that I sort of incorparated as well. However, combining all those things meant I ended up with this lovely, lovely cardi. I didn't do the classic wrap around tie as Babies spend most of their times lying down and a knot at the back would dig in so for comfort, it ties at the side instead and has a pop over the otherside. Also because I hate bulky seams it is almost entirely seamless - only where the arms attach are there seams. I'd love to try to convert it to a top down and have none at all - maybe next time I knit it :-)

Knitted in Treliske 8ply organic merino means that this cardi is super soft and honestly, you just want to cuddle it all day!! The yarn is just soooooo divine, if you're a knitter and you're out there reading this I can't recommend it enough. In fact here's the link to their store - http://treliske.co.nz/ I've used most of their wool and am really happy with it all - how it knit's up, how it looks and how it feels.

Also, as you can see, Jane once again did a beautiful job of the photos, here are some more just to show off how totally scrummy it is:

Now I just need a photo of Charlotte (it's owner!) wearing it and I'll be even happier :-)

Friday's Fabulous Finds

As Friday is my-day (actually not today I had to work dern it!) I have decided to do a feature each Friday on people that inspire me and things that I love. It's a longish list so far and it was hard to know where to start. I always believe in that old-fashioned saying 'start at the begining' but actually I'm not going to sorry!! I'll save that one for later. Today I'm actually going to start at the end - my latest and bestest find!!

Actually that's a fib - she found me and I'm mighty glad she did. Drum roll please ........ Meet:

www.photographybyjane.co.nz

The wonderful gorgeous Jane has been taking product shots for me. Just have a look:

This was my favorite (until she sent me my latest shots and now I cannot for the life of me decide which is my fav!!). It's her beautiful daughter Ella masquerading as a wee boy - now don't worry - it won't traumatise her in later life! I've used it as my avatar on ETSY and Raverly and on my new business cards that are winging their way here as I type (well I hope they are - hurry up business cards!!!)

These are: my Treliske Organic Merino (yum, yum, yummmy yarn!!) tassel hat, my Debbie Bliss Mary-Janes and a Cocoon that I've done for Jane to use as a prop.

Below is a photo of three of my original designs (no patterns sorry - they're up there in my head at this stage):

I love this photo - it's such fun!!

These are just a few I have - you'll see more popping up as I put up posts about my finished objects :-)

So, as I'm sure you can see she fabulous!! Her photos are so darling and her ideas such fun - go check her site out and have a look (and become a fan) of her facebook page (OK I'm an idiot, I cannot get the facebook link to go small - help anyone??) but you can find it through her website.

Both my kids are having a little protest over any photos at the moment due to braces but as soon as they're over that I'm so going to get her to do a shoot of them too - it probably won't be quite as pretty as my products and it will probably involve a lot of arguing but I'm sure she'll sort them out and provide us with masterpieces.

Well it's not been a good week .....

I'm in a bit of a funk really. We had a really great weekend away, just the 4 of us in a bach doing nothing but a couple of walks on the beach and reading, and then we had a bad start to the new week. Here's a hint:
Hmmmm, I'm not going into specifics but I'd really like to rant about teenage boys and how their brains just don't work!! My workmates have rallied round and given me lots of 'there's worse to come' and 'it's not as bad as what my brother, son, boyfriend did' stories and now I don't know whether I'm relieved or scared for the future!!

We then had some pretty sad news and right about now I'm feeling quite down.

I guess the only good thing about this week really is that I'm finally not blowing my nose every 2 seconds!! The cold was a right doozy, the worst I've had for years actually. Hopefully I've built up some nice immunity now though and I won't have anything quite that bad for a wee bit - you realise at this point I've probably just jinxed myself so I'm doing quite a lot of knocking on wood!

I'll try to be back soon, in a better frame of mind with some nice cheerful posts :-)

I hate being sick!!

Ugh, groan, whine, blurgh - I really hate being sick. I'm not a good sick person at all, in fact, I'm quite pathetic!

I have a cold - not just a run of the mill, average cold, no I have a revolting, horrible cold. I won't bore you with the details as I'm sure you don't actually want to know about the technicoloured mucus that is appearing! I think it's enough to say that I feel blah.

I had great plans for the weekend and week ahead. I have a number of things that I want to write about - show off some photos, write up about some friends, etc but I just do not have the energy to think of the creative witty things that I want to in order to make the posts readable and enjoyable. So ... you'll all have to wait till next week now!

However I will say that at least being sick means I've got a bit done on the knitting. I've finished my ballet cardi - I just have to block it and add the ties, I'm halfway through a cardi for the cute Milli and I have a few hats off the needles and a baby singlet on so not too shabby I thought for someone with no energy!

Dances, Boys and Cars

My daughter went to her first proper school dance on Friday. What a hoot!! She and 3 of her friends spent the week talking about it, deciding what they were wearing (a dress, but it had to be casual) and organising how they were getting there and back again. Since we had Gareth to also pick up (his school 'hosted' it and even though it's a different year level he's in training to be one of the senior lighting guys), one of the girls staying the night and we have an 8 seater we said we'd pick them up. A bit disappointed this meant they only got to go up in the 'cool car'. Rather offended I was busy saying what was wrong with my car? - well apparently B's Dad's car was just 'really cool'. Thinking it was a shiny, new car there was no way I was expecting this to pull up the drive way:




Yep - it was a COOL CAR!!!! Had I known what to expect I would have had the camera at the ready. Hopefully next time.

Mark and I then had a couple of kid-free hours, always a plus we ate homemade pizza, drunk wine (well I did, he was driving) and caught up on some TV without interuptions - bliss!! Then we went and picked the girls up.

On the way home we got to hear the intimate details of the dance and how many boys they danced with - including the amusing story of the 'embarassed farter' - oh to be young again!

We managed however, to lose our son to the call of packing down the lights and he was being dropped off hopefully before 11pm. As I was still sitting up at 12pm, with Mark gone to bed as I'd had the lie in that morning, I was busy thinking that this was probably the start of sitting up waiting for the kids to come home and that we're now entering a new stage of parenting. Making sure they're kept safe while still enjoying what life has to offer. It's going to be an interesting few years ahead I think .........

Swimming with Dolphins

Well we're back from the first half of the teeth pulling exercise with Brittany. Because she's having 4 out, two on one side top and bottom and two on the other top and bottom, they do it in two lots. She's been worried all week about it, probably due to her having to have some baby teeth out when she was a lot younger and it being traumatic for her, so I was a bit concerned about how she'd go. They numbed her up (the absolute worst part) and she wasn't quite so happy, they took out the top one and she cried a bit but then when they did the bottom she didn't make a peep.

On the way home we took her to the supermarket to get some treats - yummy soup for lunch and some icecream and I praised her on how well she did, especially the last one and her response:

'Well I decided wriggling my toes wasn't working (my idea of a good distraction technique) so I pretended I was Swimming with Dophins and it worked. On Wednesday I think I'm going to imagine something different but I'll definately use that technique again'

THAT'S MY GIRL!!

It's always hard to see your children anxious about things and know that although what they're having done is for their own good, you'd just like to be there in their place. Poor Brittany though has been through so much in her short 12 years that there are times I'd just like to wrap her in cotton wool.

As she herself said though - It'll be worth it at the end and at least she's having the braces now at 12 so it should be all over with by 15. She also made another comment that made me giggle:

'I'm so glad I have contacts now as can you imagine - glasses and braces, book always in hand and excellences galore, I would have been a total nerd'

Hermione's Hat

I'm really happy at how this turned out. It was a well-written, easy to follow pattern and knitted up quick. It fits Britt perfectly but if I was to do it again for an adult I would definately make it slightly wider and longer, or possibly go up to 4.5mm needles. The wool was lovely to use and I would use it again.

Brittany loves it, she hardly takes it off and in fact wore it all day yesterday inside (though she's taken it off now).

I now have a couple of orders to fill and then I can finish my next project, the ballet cardi.

Grump, Grump, Grump

I was so very excited to find the pattern for Hermione's Hat and Brit was so totally over the moon that I wanted to get it finished ASAP. We looked everywhere for the right shade of grey and I found it, just a tad darker than the picture but that was fine, at Nancy's in Wellington - the lovely, lovely Debbie Bliss Rialto Merino (a yarn that I haven't used before but I must say I am very pleased with.) I bought one ball, it had a generous meterage so I figured one would be enough as the pattern called for a Paton's merino that I knew had 92mtrs a ball, and what do you know, I've run out!! With literally only the decreasing to do so 11 rows in total. :-(

How can that be I asked myself? so I looked up the yarn over the internet to find that overseas the Paton's merino is sold as a double ball with 205mtrs in it - arghhhhh, I should have looked first.

*SIGH* so now I've lost my mojo, I was all hyped up thinking I'd have this done and dusted today ready for her to wear and wear and now I have to wait till tomorrow before I can duck into town and get another ball. Lesson here is check and double check.

On a positive note though today at Craft 2.0 I got some beautiful sock wool from the lovely needlefood (http://www.needlefood.co.nz/). I'm very impressed and was really restrained only buying 3 hanks.

Thinking Hurts the Brain!!

I've been thinking a lot about the direction I would like this blog to take. What it's intended for, the things I want to post about, how much I want to share and/or if I want it to only be an advertising platform for Supurlative?

I can answer a definate NO to the last one - personally I find blogs that simply blow the maker's own trumpet a bit boring, if I want to know how wonderful you are, I'll check out your feedback or products myself thanks, in fact, you telling me how good you are sort of puts me off. (I should add here after re-reading this - this doesn't actually apply to any bloggers I do follow, more those that I've come about in 'blogland' and I soon stop reading. Also it is my opinion, doesn't make those that blog like that bad or wrong, it's just how I feel about it :-)

As to the rest, that's quite hard. The blogs I like to read, and read often, are those that share a bit of everything - a little advertising, a little bit about latest products and a little home life. They have funny, sad, serious and not so serious stories, posts about techniques and new creations and forward planning and yes, that's how I would like this to be. However the reality is that this is open for the world to see - hey that's the point isn't it - so how little (or big) is what I need to decide on.

I'd like to share everything - that's the sort of person I am, open and outgoing, I find it hard to keep secrets when it comes to me (don't worry I can keep other people's!) but if I'm excited about something I like to tell people and IRL I often do LOL!! However, that's probably not the best idea in the WWW. So I guess for now I'll keep thinking about it but if you're out there reading this I'd love to hear your views on it and what you think makes for good blog reading.

However I will share this with you: I had a tooth out on Wednesday and man it's #$%^*&^ sore :-( and I can't even complain, mope about or tell people how much it hurts (so I'm telling you!!) because my darling daughter has to have 4 - yes that's right - 4!!!! out next week . So I have to be brave and pretend it's a breeze and doesn't hurt and all the other things us parents have to do so our children are OK when it comes to these things. Her's will be a lot easier as they've not been there as long, as proven when Gareth had his 4 out, but she's already freaking out about it so if I act like it hurt she'll freak even more.

Then in a month's time I'll be in even more agony as we fork out $ for her braces ;-)

WOOHOO - Thank you Ravelry

Thanks to the wonderful people on the forums at Ravelry I have a this photo of Hermione's Hat and Scarf and a link to the hat pattern that someone has already designed. I had to add it straight to my queue for Brittany.

I was also reminded of the best bit in the movie: Dumbledore saying that he loves knitting patterns!! Welcome to the club Prof D!

Please Ignore this post :-)

sqjztw9m2y

A good day and a bad all rolled into one!!

Today Mark and I both had the day off work and we took the kids to see Harry Potter. Really enjoyable movie and we would totally recommend it. In fact it did not seem like we sat there for 2 hours and 40 mins and to me that's a sure sign of a good movie. One tip though - don't take black knitting to the theatre LOL!! Luckily I had a pink knit as well, just in case I finished the black (always the optomist but at least it meant I had a back up).

Of couse I sit there looking at the costumes and I'm most pleased to see them wearing jersey's. Probably shop bought but one of Hermione's looked like it could have been a hand-knit. However she had a hat and scarf that she wore a couple of times that were really nice and even if shop bought they could be converted into hand-knits. I'm sure a pattern will pop up sometime soon, or a picture at least so I can try to find one similar. All colourworks it would be interesting to do. I actually have something similar in a Rowan book, however the colourwork is just at the bottom of the scarf, Hermione's was completely covered in it.

Now comes the bad bit - we then took the kids round the mall to spend some of their birthday money and I ended up fainting in Whitcoulls (book store), a crowd of people stood round me, including I find out afterwards (as I was pretty in-coherant while on the floor) two police, an ambulance was called and I was karted off to hospital. Goodness, I've never fainted before in my life and luckily they can't really find a reason for it but I've been ordered to visit my GP for a barrage of tests. I suspect it was because we went from the cold theatre (why are they always cold!?!) to the very hot mall (and why are they always hot!?!)

I must say it was a very scarey thing and I'm now pretty tired but at least I'm home and well. Mark said he knew I was feeling better in the hospital when I asked where my knitting was :-) A sure sign!!

I'm back for 5 secs .....

I just had to share this with someone (even if it is myself) - arghhhhh

I'm sitting here just finished posting and into my e-mail comes a 'Spring fashion' preview from a local store. It's July people - JULY!!!!!! Why on earth would I want to preview Spring, Winter is really only just starting here. Give me a Spring preview in September thanks very much.

I have a sulky 12 year old!!

Well, apparently that photo makes her look 'deranged' and she was not happy that I put it up 'for the whole wide world to see'. Baby girl, your Mother has no delusions of grandeur - while it's nice to think that people want to read my blog, I doubt very much that the 'whole wide world' is reading so I'm pretty sure you're safe on that count.

So...the photo is staying, I love it (and I love you) and I promise it doesn't make you look deranged :-)

Oh and on the note of the reading thing it's seriously driving me crazy that I cannot for the life of me figure out how to find one of those cute counter things that others have at the bottom of their blog that tells them how many hits they've had (I'm sure in my case it's not so many but it'd still be nice to know if I'm just talking to myself here!)- so much so that I'm thinking of paying someone to design my blog just so I'll get one - now that's deranged!!

I have a 12 year old

As of last week the youngest member of our house is now 12 (well not counting the dogs!!)

I cannot believe my baby girl is 12, that's only one year away from 13!!! Then I will really have two teenagers in the house, well offically anyway - for all intents and purposes Britt behaves like a teenager already.

Following in our normal tradition we had a birthday 'week'. Starting with a party on Sunday, the birthday in the week and peppered through it lots of visitors. Also cards from family in England and friends in New Zealand meant there was something to do with her birthday happening every day.

Apparently this was one of her best birthday's EVER! It's much nicer to have a birthday at her new school than her old don't you know. Lots of fuss was made of her from being sung Happy Birthday in tutor group, having to carry round a ballon from her tutor teacher, getting to brag about her pressies, having even the seniors know it was your birthday and then being sung Happy Birthday again in French (a real highlight although only the French teacher actually knew the words haha!)

I can't tell you what a joy it is to see your child so happy and feel so loved. Her day at school was an absolute highlight and I am once again so very grateful that she was accepted into her school. Now we only hope it continues.

I have to put up a photo here - this is one of my favorites of the huge lot we took - there is a small story behind it - her good friend bought her this HUGE box to open. The first layer had another box in it and this tiny present. Open present, then open next box to find a giant ball and this:
Yes that's a bag of $10 pick and mix lollies - her friends know her so well, I'm just amazed that there's still over half left!!

Plus she just looks so happy - giggling her head off.


HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY DARLING DAUGHTER XXXX

Hats, hats and more hats

This week has been taken up with knitting hats.

This is a lime one I started and have now finished (but no finished picture yet). I've also done a dusky pink, red and halfway through a cream one - phew!! Not quite as bad as the week I had 8 to do but still a fair whack. The biggest issue with the hats is they're keeping me from my ballet cardi that I'm designing - just when I get all excited about it I have to be a grown up and do what needs to be done rather than what I want to be done haha.

Over the weekend I have some socks and Mary-Janes to do and then I can go back to the Cardi - well at least while Mark and I are watching TV I can, as the knitting will have to give way for some sewing in the next couple of weeks. My Niece has asked me to make her a ball-gown for the end of July. That will be a challenge but it will give me a very good excuse to get my new toy out of the box (that's it to the left!)

I bought it about a month ago and as yet it's still sitting in there. Grand ideas to do clothes for myself and Britt but with all the knitting not a chance. Sam's dress will do the honors of being the first item on it :-)

Feedback

I only have time for a very short post today but I wanted to share part of a couple of e-mails I received in regards to my hats:

'Thanks for the beautiful packaging – only to be outdone by the hats themselves. They are a really good fit – some months left in them, just perfect for winter'

and

'the hat arrived on Saturday and it is so cute. I really love it and the fit is just right. She will get to wear it all winter and best of all she does not rub it off. I have already had comments on how cute it is.'

I really love getting this sort of feedback from people. I can talk up my knitting all I want but these comments are really what counts.

I have a banner!!

WOOHOO - it went up a couple of days ago and it's not perfect but it's there. It still needs a little tweaking - such as making the picture clearer, Mark had used a copy of my picture rather than the original, mainly cause he was playing around, but he assures me it can be changed.

I'm so pleased with it, it is basically what I asked for - a plain, simple banner that adds that extra touch to my store.

On the store note, while ETSY hasn't produced much, trade me has been going great guns. With Winter having hit I am really busy with orders, in fact, perhaps a little too busy, having to have a couple of late nights to catch up. It's a buzz though and I'm getting such nice comments and feedback from everyone.

I've also had 2 real life stores ask me if I would consider making items for them to sell . It's a hard one, I'm not sure I want to have that much commitment and to be honest at this point in time I'm just too busy. Something I will be thinking about though.

On the personal note, it's a freezing cold day here in Wellington so we're inside with the heaters blazing. The boys are upstairs and Britt is writing a story (one of her favorite passtimes - not only is she going to be a Doctor and cure asthma but she's also going to be a famous writer - she's really good and that's not just 'cause I'm her Mum that I say that, her English teacher also agrees :-) I'm about to go do some baking for lunches and then I'm sitting down to knit another hat. The housework's all done and I made a huge pot of chicken soup yesterday so tea's sorted and I don't have to worry about anything else but loosing myself in the knitting zone. I may even break out a Jane Austin DVD to make my afternoon complete!

My banner - how hard could it be???

So when I set up my ETSY store a month ago I asked my son if he thought he could do me a banner. Not a problem was the reply. Of course though his computer game came first but finally, after a little Mum nagging, he started. I drew him an outline of what I'd like it to look like, very simple, and using my photo:
He went away and started work. After a little more Mum nagging the image was ready and he asked for payment - payment??? After explaining that no, he wasn't getting paid for this, I went to upload it to find it had this superimposed over the top of it: 'this image has been deleted due to non-payment'. Funny lad!! That's fine I said, but I hope you have fun learning how to use the washing machine, cooking and shopping for yourself, paying your own bus fare to and from school etc. He pondered this and decided that yes, payment wasn't necessary so went to upload my banner.

This time he thought it would be funny to have the words 'Made by Gareth XXXX, I work for free' under it. Hmmmm, I'm begining to think it was a mistake asking him to do this!!!

However, once the words had been removed, it turned out the banner was the wrong dimensions. I'm stating to get a headache at this point. So back to the drawing board. New banner appears only this time he's been working on it at school (getting enthusiastic about it now he was!) and when he brings it home it not only is the right size, it fades in and out, the words come and go and to be honest, should ETSY have sound it would probably sing to you to!!

So, I am still without my plain simple banner and now Mark is working on it. I'm of the opinion that I should just pay someone from ETSY to design me one but no, he's dead keen to get it right for me (and yes, I'm very grateful that he is willing and wanting to do so :-)

Hopefully I'll have a banner soon.

Friday = MY DAY

Last year when my daughter started a densitisation programme at Wellington Hospital (which involved spending one day a month in the day ward), my lovely employers let me change my hours around so that instead of working 4 hours 5 days a week, I now work 5 hours 4 days a week. It was great! Meant that I didn't have to take time off for the day she needed to be in the hospital, if the kids or I were sick during the week then I could just swap my off day and that generally I would have a little bit of extra time to get the housework and jobs done.

Last year and the first term of this year, that's exactly what I've been using it for. This term however, with my girl now on maintenence and having it done at Hutt Hospital with her Ped and me being slightly more organised, I am finding that Friday has turned into My day and wow, what a difference it makes in my life.

It's amazing really how much having a house and kids and basically grown up responsibilities takes out of you. I spend so much of my time doing things for everyone else. Not that I mind - I wouldn't have had children otherwise - but there are times when I feel like I don't get 5 minutes to myself and having my Friday is solving that.

The last few Friday's I've spent watching DVD's and catching up on my knitting but this Friday I'm having fun spending some time 'surfing' the web, updating ETSY with new photos and a new listing, reading about how to improve this blog and catching up with friends via e-mail. Very soon I'm getting off the computer though to go and play with my new toys that have been sitting in boxes and bags and organising my sewing studio just a little better. I might even take some photos with my new camera so I can start to add them on here!

Only I could do it

So I finally get around to starting a bog a couple of weeks ago, I haven't had much time to dedicate to it yet but did a couple of posts. Went to log in today to discover that somehow in my haze of little time I managed to use an e-mail address that wasn't valid!!

Goodness knows how or why but I did a combination of my work e-mail address with our xtra bit on the end. Although we have something like 8 alias that are tagged onto our xtra account, this wasn't one of them. Ugh!! So that meant that I was unable to verify my blog and that the other stuff we have through google accounts were on a different e-mail. Dumb, dumb, dumb me!!

I suppose it's one disadvantage to having 2 computer genius' in the house as I never do anything for myself, I'm a click and point kind of gal and should anything get too complicated (and yes, dummy that I am, that includes googling stuff!) I either yell Mark or Gareth and one comes to help. In my defense of my dumbness though, the boys being computer genius' means we have a computer each (so 4 in the house and actually I think the boys have 2 each but I don't keep up with that so much!), a network, server and a funny modum thing that even xtra don't like to fiddle with so if I touch anything or do anything wrong I'm in big trouble - One day I managed to wipe all the settings on the modum and I wasn't very popular.

So the upshot is my old bog has been deleted and I've got this new one that is attached to all our other bits. Sorry to the 2 people I know who've found me and now have to find me again LOL.

I'm almost all caught up with my knitting so as long as I get that done this weekend then next week I'm going to sort the blog out properly.

Bye for now