A jumper made with love

A jumper made with love
Originally uploaded by redmag

I went to a book sale at the local church over the weekend and picked up a few bargains, one of which was a 1974 Goldern Hands Crafts book called "Gifts to Make". Strangley a large number of the crafts were quite tasteful and could actually be described as "Back in vogue."

This is my favourite a colourful stripey jumper for your sausage dog.

Our dog is German Shorthaired pointer and quite a bit larger than a sausage dog. Sadly he also has an aversion to wearing doggy coats and perfers to lounge in side on the couch when the weather is too hot or too cold so trying to knit a larger version might be a complete waste of time, which is a shame.

I do however have a calico sausage dog from MUJI that I was given a few years ago. Given its very plain looking I thought I might give the jumper a go for the toy dog.

6.5 stitches cardigan - all done!

6.5 stitches cardigan - all done!
Originally uploaded by redmag

I finally finished it . It's meant to have a fabric piece that sits behind the front knitted flap, however I hadn't managed to find the right piece of fabric by the time I finished knitting. Being extremely impatient, I decided that warmer weather we'd been experiencing justified omitting that panel, and sewed it up sans beautiful fabric.

The vital stats - This is the 3 month size. I used 3.75mm needles and two balls (100g) of TLC CaraMia, which is a medium worsted wool. It's an Acrylic (50%), Nylon (19%), Rayon (18%) Angora (13%) blended wool, which makes it feel soft but not delicate. It's recommended that you use 5mm needles with this wool, but I was worried the jumper would end up being too big and opted for a smalled set.

The pattern itself was wonderful - simple and clear. The cardigan looks fantastic on and is easy to put on and take off - which I love. We've already had many compliments on our walks over the past couple of days, including inquiries as to whether it was a pumpkin patch purchase. It's always so nice to be able to reply..."Well actually I made it myself. "

I'm going to try and get some more wool and start making a second one in the larger 6 month size straight away! Partly because he is growing like a weed and will need a bigger one very soon, but mainly because it was so enjoyable to make - and I really should do one with the beautiful fabric panel.

Eadie, Ethel and Elenore - Schrodinger's kitties and shop talk.

Eadie, Ethel and Elenore
Originally uploaded by redmag

It's been a productive day of sewing - three new floral SChodinger's Cats for my shop - Eadie, Ethel and Elenore.

Eadie - the kitten made from the floral fabric I bought over the weekend - is actually much prettier in real life than she seems in this photo. The colours havent come out right in this photo so I'm going to try and take some more photos tomorrow in daylight and see if I can do her some justice before adding her to my store. Her face has the sweetest as a small pink triangle turned up in the middle of her face in the right place to form a nose - completely unplanned which was a happy conincidence. I'll be adding those three tomorrow.

I also posted a message on my shop announcing the arrival of a new range of toys I'm planning to release on Monday 17 September. I'm very excited about having new designs to show everyone, but I did forget that I had people coming to stay with us over the weekend so tomorrow and Thursday are going to be a busy sewing days. Nothing like a deadline to make me get myself into gear...I find i just drift along without pressure, self imposed or otherwise.

Anyway, time to cook dinner - it's brocolli, chilli anchovy pasta tonight.
Hope you had/have a great productive day.

Fifties florals

Fifties florals
Originally uploaded by redmag

This is part of my stash from the YMCA garage sale over the weekend.

The one on the top of the pile is some vintage fabric which I'm currently turning into another Schrodinger's cat - I only have to add a face and its ready to meet the world.

The middle two are table clothes which have been laundered in anticipation of summer and the joyous prospect of outdoor dining.

The bottom one is actually a pillow made from an old tea towel covered in The Cooktown Orchid, which is apparently Queensland floral emblem. All information from the tea towel - who would have thought a teatowel could be such an informative source!. I've given it a much needed bath and will restuff it for adding to the couch for more years of lounging. It does look like its seen many years of traffic already and suffered a bit of damage in the machine but the battered look makes it all the more endearing.

How tall are you?

How tall are you?
Originally uploaded by redmag

This wonderful thing was probably the find of the day. It's a growth chart covered in cute little people and signs in german.

I think some cute pins are needed to mark off heights. Something like these or these only with little people, cars or bicycles on them - if anyone knows of something that will fit the bill please let me know!!

Thank God its Friday

Some Op Shop finds
Originally uploaded by redmag

I'm not sure why I look forward to Friday so much when I'm not working - but I do. I guess its because everyone else in the world suddenly becomes available for fun activities on Friday.

Its a rainy grey spring day today -which is rare on all fronts its very rarely grey in Canberra, and its even more rare to see it rain. While its great to get some rain - the dams and the gardens need it - it is difficult to do much on a day like this.

We're having some friends round for a BBQ on the weekend and I had big plans for tidying the house but most of the mess is stockpiled dirty clothing and washing it when there's no where to hang it to dry seems silly. So the cleaning can wait til tomorrow!

I just designed a new toy which I'm dying to show everyone. It's a surprise gift for my sister so I need to wait until she receives it in the mail before I can share it with the rest of the world. However in the meantime I'm making variants of it for my shop, which means I will have a number of things to add next week, or early the following week depending on the speediness of the postal service.

On another good note - The local thrift shop was having a sale on Children's books today - 20 cents each!! So I bought 11 - I'll test them out in the coming weeks and let you know if there are any gems...there's one about a bunny rabbit with long floppy ears which I'm looking forward to trying out on Baby N.

The other exciting thing coming up is the much anticipated YMCA garage sale which is happening tomorrow. They occur every three months so Baby N was only a few weeks old last time and slept through the whole thing. We did manage to find the cute penguin toy and the chalkboard for him (both pictured above). Hopefully we'll find more treasures this time. They tend to have a section where you can fill a bag full of clothes for only a couple of dollars. I'm looking for some green items to use to make leaves to add to the tree in the nursery when summer comes round - the more outragiously 70s the better!

For any Canberra based people who are interested - here's a link to their website for all the details.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend

Spring has sprung in the nursey

Spring has sprung in the nursey
Originally uploaded by redmag

We welcomed spring over the weekend. There was some barbecuing, a little gardening (more talking about what we could do rather than actual doing but that's all progress really when you're coming from a low baseline) and we added the spring blossoms to Baby N's mural.

I could only get two bunches of the flowers I liked, so the flowers are more sparse than originally planned. It looks more like a Magnolia than the fruit tree I had in mind. Either way it sings spring - which is what I had hoped for.

Plus I was thinking that the extra space on the branches means we can now also turn it into a "family tree" for N. All of our extended family live interstate or overseas, so we were planning on sticking up photos of the family around his room to help him remember them between visits. Now with the extra space on the branches I thought I might make it a family tree.

Anyway its a lovely sunny day, again! I'm baking brownies for an afternoon tea, but once they're done its off somewhere outside to read a book in the sunshine.

Hope your day is good - where ever you are!