My idea of Bliss....

Is a day off together (Friday of course!), lunch at a cafe (Chocolate Dayz to be precise - nom, nom, nom!!) and a wander down Petone where I happened to chance across these:

and then getting home to find my yarn from Red Riding Hood Yarns, I'm overloading on the yumminess!!

Can't you just see the little dress knitted up in the reddy pink?

Craft 2.0 and Whoops!

Firstly the whoops - I was on a friends blog last night who has my blog on her front page and under it said '4 weeks' that means since the last post.  Ugh, I can't believe it was that long ago I posted so whoops!!

In the lead up to Craft 2.0 I do tend to go into this little bubble world where all I concentrate on is stock, what I still have to make and thoughts about how I'm going to display things this year.  Most other things tend to just go on the back burner!

I have to say that I was a lot more relaxed this time round.  I didn't want to overstock as I thought that being October and coming into Spring/Summer over here, knitwear probably wouldn't be on the top of everyone's list.  So I did do a few cotton and cotton/bamboo items - sunhats and Mary-Janes and I did a few vests which are good as they add a little warmth without being a full on jersey.

I have to say I was surprised - It still went very well (yay!) and what I sold isn't what I thought would.  For a start I sold 2 jersey's, (that was very surprising), and quite a few merino hats.  The Mary-Janes however sold out, I wasn't too surprised by that as I think they're great.

I can't say enough how much I love Craft 2.0.  Not only as I sell there but I always stock up on gifts and whatnot.  I love the fact that I'm buying handmade, I love that it's different and not everyone will have one and I love the fact that I'm supporting another cottage industry.  I know these items are made with love and that I love love love meeting all the stallholders and the ones at craft 2 are simply the best - they share ideas freely and there really isn't that feeling of 'you're the competition'.

I haven't applied for the December fair - for a start knitwear in December I really do think won't be wanted - and it's a bit close to Christmas for us, Christmas being such a hectic busy affair round here - but if you can get along it's on the 18th December and it's well worth it for gifts.

Here's a photo of my stall before we opened (yes I did handknit and the applique the bunting - it got SO many remarks I'm considering selling it as custom orders).  I kept it quite simple this time round.  I think my favorite items were the mice, so cute!!

                

Back to the real world .....

Last week we took off to Turangi.  Middle of the North Island of New Zealand, 40mins away from the skifields on Mt Ruapehu.  Not a lot to do there but relax, ski and walk if you're so inclined.

Very enjoyable, there's something about not being at home and therefore not having to worry about the house, gardens, chores that need to be done.  We spent a lot of time driving - a day in Taupo, to the mountain to ski, exploring other areas - and we spent a bit of time walking - lovely tracks and walks there - and some just blobbing.

While M and I didn't ski - we just sat and manned the pit stop - the kids did and they had a blast.  B had never skied before but took to it like a duck to water after a lesson and G, having been for a week with school, just said bye and away he went. 

So good, we think we'll take them again next ski sesson!

Friday Night Madness

M is out, G is playing computer games, B is at her grandparents and I'm sitting here, reading this blog and doing something I often tell my children off for doing.  I'm drinking from the bottle of Just Juice Bubbles.

Don't worry, I finished it all, I'm not putting it back in the fridge (unlike some children who will remain nameless) however I think it's pretty sad that the extent of wildness in my life is that I get excited over doing something as 'mad' as drinking from the bottle!!  Or maybe I'm looking at it all wrong, it's not sad, it's actually pretty darn cool that my life is so great at the moment that drinking from the bottle is 'mad'.

Yeah, that's what I'll go with!!

Well the week started out OK .....

Monday was pretty OK, Tuesday M bought me flowers

Later Tuesday night however.... my poor brittle asthmatic had an attack, the ambulance was called and she's been in hospital till today (Friday).  She's tired, weak and was very bored but at least she was in the best place.  Hutt Hospital rocks!!

So plans for this weekend include resting, relaxing and catching up on sleep - for us all!

Milly turns 3

Recently I had another dilemma, Milly was turning 3 and I had NO IDEA what to get her. 

What do you get the child who's mother owns a toy store????

So ... I decided to put together a little art pack and in it included a handmade crayon roll.  Mad on Winnie-the-Pooh I used some fabric I had here for the outside, a contrasting star fabric for the inside and decided to go with a big button and elastic to close it rather than ties and was really happy with how it turned out

I think these are such a great idea.  It makes the crayons portable and help the kids with their small motor skills as they learn to take them in and out of the little pockets as well as the actual drawing. 

It was so easy to make that I'm definitely going to do more - I have another friend with two littlies so I have a good excuse. 

Oh and if you want to check out 'The Toy Store' go here - The Toy Store 

Dilemma

So, Craft 2.0 is coming up in October and I need to start getting organised.  However I recently purchased this yarn:

'Da Apple' from Eskimimi Knits

I'm sure I can hear it whispering ever so softly, "Knit me first, go on, you know you want to, I'll make super fantastic socks"  SIGH!!!  I have no willpower!!!

Mmmmmm I LOVE Fridays

I really spend Mon-Thurs just waiting for them.  A day to myself, mostly, with a chance to catch-up with friends and fellow crafters, go the gym without rushing through a work-out and craft all I want.

Tomorrow is no exception really, apart from the fact that my DH has decided to have the day off as well.  I had grand plans and so did he.  Mine involved, gym in morning, going out for lunch to Petone and hitting the numerous, boutique stores down there that I love so much, especially the antique ones as I'm looking for something 'special' to use as a prop at the next Craft 2.0.  Perfect day really!!

His involve programming.  Yep, programming.  Something you do with computers.
B O R I N G!!!!

So we're in disagreement.

What I think will happen is:  I will go the gym, I will then go down to Petone by myself, wander the stores and then bring lunch home.   He will quickly eat lunch and then go back to his programming. 

At least I still get to craft right?

Actually what I then think I'll do is work in my sewing room.  It still looks like a bomb hit it but it's sort of an organised bomb now.  I have just bought a really wonderful old manrobe and I'm really looking forward to getting that up there for storage.  It won't be here till Sunday (thanks Dad) but I should be able to continue to tidy and leave a space for it to go.  I'm actually reorganising the whole room so it's taking a lot longer than I wanted it to.  Means it'll be super organised though.

Hope you all have great Fridays and if you're working - cheer up, tomorrow's the weekend :-)

Catch Up

Wow, seriously where does time go??  Lots have been happening around here so it's time for a quick catch up:

I now have two teenagers in the house.  B turned 13 a couple of weeks ago.  Luckily her personality hasn't yet turned.  I'm hoping we might cruise through these years ahead, I mean I was a pretty laid back teenager, hopefully she will be too :-)

Knitting - I've hit the craft fair market this year so have been quite involved with that and not so much on-line.  It's a hard call really which is better.  On-line is easier, done when you get the chance and fits in around you, craft fairs however give you the chance to interact with people and meet lots of lovely other crafters, but you have to fit around them.  I'm going to try hard to keep up with both though and have again been lucky enough to have a table at the next Craft 2.0 in October.  Really, really looking forward to that!

Organisation - well it's happening.  I admit slowly, but it is happening.  I tried to find a photo of my sewing studio at it's worst but I must have been so horrified I deleted it.  When I head up there later today I'm going to take a 'half way through' photo.

I promise there'll be posts more often.  I have lots of good things to blog about so I have no excuse really.

Bye for now

Craft 2.0

How did it come around so fast!?!

I'll be there, hope you will too :-)

Charlotte's One

A friend of our's wee girl had her first birthday party yesterday. I made her this:

There was also a wee hat to match but I didn't get a photo of it.  I hope they like it - I love it and was very happy with it. 

I'm loving getting back into the sewing but I don't think my sewing studio is - it's a bit of a tip right now and I've decided that I seriously need to get it organised so now that life is back on an even keel (touch wood!) I'm going to get back into my New Year's Resolutions, top one if you remember was ORGANISATION. 

Baby Set

I've been working on and off this set for a couple of weeks - my 'at home' knitting.  However because there hasn't been a lot of 'at home' time, only a few rows got done a day!  Didn't matter, I had Thursday off before it was needed to hand over so all was cool I thought.  Until Thursday turned into a horrible day with the two, what was supposed to be quick, appointments the kids had.  UGH.  However I did get all but one bootie done and as baby isn't actually due for another month I'm not too stressed over finishing it off LOL.

This was based on a Phidar pattern, but modified.  You can still tell that it's the same jersey however the whole knitting process is changed.  The French do some strange things with their knitting - I mean really, knitting a band seperately and then sewing it on!?!  No thanks, that just makes for more seams.

I'm very pleased with it but there are still things I'd change if I do it again.  I've knitted it with minimal seams anyway but the way they do the neck line was pretty weird so I'd change that and I'm not sure if I'd so the rolled hem again.  Their wool was an acrylic blend where as mine is merino and I think that has a big effect on the rolling - the acrylic would stay in place better where as the merino just wanted to keep on rolling back up, even after being blocked.  An alternative hem would be just a couple of rows of double rib instead and I still think it'd look cute.  Also I wouldn't make the cufffs quite as long as they are.

I've managed to churn a bit of knitting out lately so there will be more updates soon.

I LOVE the rain and the cold and the miserable weather

and I always feel guilty over it.  While the rest of NZ is flooding and schools are closing I'm here thinking 'ohhh, please stay cold and miserable'.  

I don't know what it is but Winter has always been my favorite season.  I honestly think it's because I'm a knitter.  In winter I get to wear my lovely knitwear.  I get to wear my scarves, hats and wrap up warm in jeans and jersey's and jackets and have the heater's going so it's cosy inside.  

On top of that I get to KNIT with no guilt - no thoughts of 'oh but I should be outside gardening' which is my summer guilt inducer.  And lately, knitting is what I've been doing (and some sewing too actually).

I've done a few new things - scarves for one and a secret project - and am currently working on a set for a friend at work who's leaving to have a baby.  Here's a hint:

I'm totally loving this set and think I will make it a new product.  I also have other new products to make up - some gloves, more scarves and a new design hat.  On top of that I have new wool - organic merino in colours TO DIE FOR!!!  They're just soooo nice and bright - something I've not found before in the organic.  Can't wait to start using them, which will be later today as I have a 4 day  weekend - YAY!!

Keep warm everyone and even if you don't enjoy the horrible weather like I do, I hope you use it to rest and relax like I am :-)

Super Duper Proud of my Boy!!

So I just have to write a little post about it.

G is doing NCEA this year.  He's a typical boy, not wanting to study or really do much work at all however he recently had his first big internal assessment for English.  Now English is NOT his strong subject, no way, no how, not at all.  In fact if I'm honest, the most we were hoping for was a scrape through.

However, in his first assessment, being creative writing, he came home with THREE (yep you read that right - three!!!) excellences for it (they mark in achieved, merit, excellence - it's a most confusing and tricky system and gives you big headaches trying to work it out).

On top of that it's been submitted to Scholastic for publication in a school journal.  Woohoo.  I'd put it up here, it's really an amazing peice of writing, but as it's been submitted it's not allowed to be published anywhere else (and OK they probably won't care about Mum's blog but I'd hate to risk it just in case) until a decision has been made which takes 3 months.

I'm doing a happy dance I tell you.

Sucky Things ..... Again!!

My Grandad died just under 2 weeks ago.  That makes it 3 deaths this year, 4 in the last 6 months.  Honestly, if someone else close to us dies soon I think you'll find me curled in the corner rocking.  Then the nice men in their white coats will have to come away and take me to a comfy padded room!!!

In the meantime life is busy, B has something on 6 days out of 7 after school plus speech and drama and guitar in school plus her Dr's and orthandontist visits.  It's starting to get to us both - she's tired, I'm tired, and we're both crabby.  Thank goodness G doesn't do much!!  I'm working on some coping strategies - lots of vitamins, a good diet and rest at night.  Serves me right for thinking life would get easier as they got older LOL.

On a less sucky note - the puppies are ultra cute now.  Starting to walk and make sounds and play fight - soooo funny to watch.  They both have new homes and while I did think it would be easy to see them go, we're now very attached.  They do add extra work to my day though - especially as I'm starting to wean them and soon it'll be toilet training time - so when they do go at least that will be one less chaotic thing.  Only 4 weeks to go - I can't believe how fast the last 4 have gone!

We have puppies!!

And sorry but I've been very slack at letting you know!!

Born on the 17th April, Harper had 5 puppies but sadly only 2 survived.  The other 3 were stillborn and while we can guess at why, we will never really know.  It was very sad :-(

However, the other two are thriving.  Harper is such a good Mum, it's so amazing how they know instinctively exactly what to do.  As there is only 2 they're not in competition with anyone so they're taking their sweet time about things having only just opened their eyes and their ears still not open.  They've gained so much weight that they're just round little fatties.

It's fun and I'm getting quite attached, which I didn't think I would do, and I'm looking forward to being able to play with them.

Here are some photos:

 

On the right is when they were firstborn and the left is 2 weeks later. You can just see where they are starting to open their eyes.

Here is a couple of cute photos,
both when they're around 2 weeks old

The Waddling Dog

Harper is pregnant - YAY!!

After all that went on the last few months when she came back on heat I decided I had enough to worry about than trying to send Spencer away for a week and then all the organising for the reintroducing so we went to the vet and had AI.  It still seems wrong though but Brittany is calling it a virgin birth and gets great pleasure out of telling everyone!

Now the countdown is on.  Brittany has a calender on her wall and ticks off the days - only approx 17 to go.  I do feel sorry for her, she's fat as so hopefully that doesn't mean there's a lot of puppies - not that I mind a lot, but it would be hard on her if there were - and instead means that because she's so little she's showing more.  I'm looking forward to having puppies to play with for a couple of months, I mean what's cuter than a Cavalier puppy??  Nothing in my book!!

Things and how sucky they can get .....

As the small number of you who read may have noticed, I haven't been round much these last couple of months.

Things have been a bit sucky actually and the energy to update and try to keep upbeat hasn't been there. 

Mainly a lot of this is because we lost a very much loved Uncle to cancer.  Talk about really sucky.  Man, just writing that made me cry again.  I still can't quite believe he's gone and I still can't believe how fast it took him.  He is missed by us all very much :-(

I have so much more empathy and sympathy for those dealing with this disease now than I ever had.  I've always known that it's horrible and evil and well, sucky, but I've never lived it or been up close to it.  I wish I still had that naivety.

This means that although I've kept knitting (gotta have one staple!) not a lot else has gone on and now it's almost April.   That means winter and busy times ahead, G is about to turn 15 (arghhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!) and sport season is about to begin.  It also means Easter is coming which I'm most excited about as I've taken 3 days leave to have a whole 10 days at home with the kids, I can't wait.  Some time to relax, blob and chill out.  Catch up on sleep and generally refresh and recover from the last few months and prepare for the next few ahead.  Hopefully they won't be as tragic as the ones just been.

10 in 2010

Is is Twenty- ten or is it two thousand and ten?  However you say it, this year is going to be a big one for me - not just another year that goes by but one where I get things done.  They may be boring things but at least they'll be something done!

First up are my 3 major goals:

1        Weight Loss

Honestly I debated about putting this up - I was going to leave it as a blank - for two reasons.  First and probably most obvious is that doesn't everyone have this as a NYR???  It's one of those classics that we say and then it goes out the door two minutes later.  Secondly, because I do find this quite an embarassing subject.  The reality is that I should be ultra proud of myself for what I have achieved, and the logical part of me knows this, but the emotional part of me is really sad that I had/have to lose weight and that in essence I didn't care about myself enough to look after me which resulted in the gain.  Though there are also reasons to argue that at the time I did care about myself to not care that I was gaining weight (However those reasons and that argument is definately not going up here sorry!)  This subject therefore is quite emotional for me. 

So reasons to be proud of me:  In total I have lost 42kgs from my heaviest and I have kept it off for over a year now- yay me!!

However why I want to lose more: I have 10kgs to go, 10kgs people, that's nothing yet it's sat there for a year - UGH - and I really, really want it gone!!

I do question whether 10kgs will make much of a difference to me?  I mean really compared to what I was, I'm over the moon, hopping happy so what will it do to lose that last bit?  Hmmmm, don't know, but I'm sure I'll find out along the way.

So .... while I've kept up with the weights over Christmas this week (yeah, the hottest in Wgtn for months!) I have started cardio gym work again.  Hopefully I'll see some results soon :-)

2        Organisation

Another big one for me.  I am terribly disorganised at home.  At work I'm fine but why can't I bring it home??  Things like getting to places on time, making sure the kids notices, books, sports stuff is organised, knowing where things are so I can get to them when needed, keeping track of appointments.  I used to be quite good at it all but as the kids got older and life got busier it went out the door so now it's time to bring it back in.

I've started this already with the simple tool of a diary, making sure I write in it everyday, put everything in it, including a 'to do' list for the really important things and that's just the first step.

Now Organisation also ties in with:

3        Declutter

On the surface our house doesn't look too full - but don't open a cupboard, something may fall out!  We have so much stuff it's just not funny.  It doesn't help that I'm married to the Hoarder from Hell (though maybe he thinks he is too LOL!) but really, we need to get rid of some of it!

Getting rid of it means I'm more likely to be able to find the things we really need, help the kids find their things, know where things are and have space for items that are just plonked where they fit, which then it turn helps us be more organised.

I've made a good start on this.  All my yarn is now out of the lounge, packed away properly, labelled and easy to get at in the roof space.  Made worthwhile by the fact that twice in the last week when I've been asked to do custom-made hats I could find the yarn I wanted immediately and neatly.  On top of that I've taken 5 bags of my 'fat' clothes to the sallies so they're gone (and with it the emotional baggage I had hanging on to them!) and have given some of the kids away to friends.   With a long weekend this weekend I am next going to work on Brittany's wardrobe properly.  Will let you know if I manage it next week.

Slowly but consistantly, if I work on it a little at a time, it will get done!

Oh - the HFH also made a start last week and it was a good one so I'm pretty impressed with him too!!

So Funny.....

This weekend for some reason G and B have done not much else but be pains in the proverbial!!  'He said xyz,' 'no, she's lying, she said xyz,' 'he is annoying me and I need you to get him to stop', 'actually it's her that's annoying me and you need to get her to stop', 'he won't give me that DVD that is ours, he says it's his' ..... and so on and so on and so on.  Of course it doesn't help that both our kids are vocal, articulate and argumentative so it's only going to get worse. 

When the arguing and fighting start to get too much I think back to what my parents would have done and then daydream about banging heads together, washing mouths out with soap and smacking backsides!!

Of course, as I'm not actually going to do that, I try to remember this senario:

Away for a weekend with friends, G and B going hammer and tong and their girl Milly (2.5yrs) intently watching them - head swiveling to one side as G says something, swiveling back to see what B has to respond, then back again until she turns to me and says 'so funny, SO FUNNY!'

Yep the two and a half year old summed it up quite well really I think :-)

For added inspiration I also think of what Nigel Latta has to say on the situation 'Mad Uncle Jessie has just moved in for the next few years'

Though if it carries on for the next few years I think I just might leave and come back when it's all over!!

I'm back ......

A bit later into 2010 than I meant to be but better late than never I say!!

When I look back over the last 6-7 weeks I still find it hard to comprehend just how busy I have been.  Two years ago, one week before Christmas my Dad had a heartattack.  Being the procrastinator that I am I was still quite disorganised leading up to the big day and it threw things into chaos.  I then swore that I was never going to be in that situation again - well this December I have had to eat those words.

It started with my 'other' job (the one that actually brings in the money so I can supply my yarn addiction haha!) and a decision that we were going to try and get some extraordinary results for December.  Now I don't tend to talk about that job on here - mainly because if I did then I would be very easily recognisable and since my job is what it is, I don't actually want to be that recognisable, but it is in the Legal field and I mostly enjoy it a lot.  In fact at times I wish I didn't enjoy it so much as I do get torn between where I want to go - I really want to expand Supurlative but I also want to keep working in my field and there is just not enough time to do both - but that's a whole other post :-).  Anyway, wanting extraordinarly results meant that December was going to be VERY busy just on that front for a start.

All was well and ticking along but then Christmas started creeping in, custom orders arrived and the end of school thing started - shared lunches, prizegivings, assemblies, half days etc for which this year we had two of everything (primary school is a lot crusier than integrated secondary schools!)  A couple of weeks out from Christmas I had to even stop listing and renewing things for Supurlative because I was basically out of stock (thank you so much all you wonderful buyers) and I just knew I didn't have the time to make more.

Then Brittany got sick and spent a day in hospital (I was so grateful Mark had the week before Christmas off so he dealt with that mainly) and more of my plans went out the window.  For the first year EVER, Mark and I spent Christmas Eve buying presents - arghhhhh.  Though I have to say some of that was because our darling daughter decided a few days earlier that she really wanted a guitar and lessons so her Christmas pressies that we had have been put away for her birthday and we went guitar hunting. 

On top of all that I'm still not sleeping properly so as you can imagine by the time Christmas day rocked up I was actually pretty much all over it before it started.  This year we had bought crackers for Mark's family and pudding (there goes my superwoman badge) and in fact, I even forgot the crackers for my families lunch  - luckily the ham and alcohol were well stocked LOL.

Then on Christmas Day itself disaster struck - really it had to didn't it, what could top all that but something big - I bit down on a MARSHMELLOW!!!!! and out came my tooth - one I'd previously had a root canel in so the whole filling (which was pretty much the whole tooth) came out.  One emergency dentist trip and huge amounts of $$ later - well lets just say that it was just as well that the alcohol was well stocked!!

So all in all I just look back and figure that going into 2010 I have two options -either just try and block it all out LOL or decide that I really need to get my organisation under control.  I've opted for the latter so for me 2010 is going to be all about ORGANISATION.  Phew, big task!!

Not only that but I have done a 10 for 2010 list that I plan on sticking to and so this year is going to be a big year for me.  I'm actually quite excited about it.  I have plans and ideas and goals and then rewards also for when these are put in action.  I'm determined that I don't want to be as stressed as I have been.  It's not good for me and it's not good for my family so I need to get it sorted.  So keep watch as a lot of it is going to be documented on here (I need to be accountable to someone!) starting in a couple of days with the list :-)

PS - we did get those results at work so at least something good came from December!!