Winter woolies and quilts

A bright red scarf
Originally uploaded by redmag

Tomorrow marks the beginning of winter and its time to admit it really is cold... I delay this admission off every year - continuing to wear light weight jackets and saving the big winter coast until I can't take it anymore!

I love all the other seasons so much...summer because its bright and you can spend most of your time outside, autumn because in Canberra its so beautiful with mother nature turning on a spectacular show of reds and yellows, and spring just smells wonderful and marks the start of my three favourite seasons....in spring everything seems to have so much potential.

While winter is cold and I do seem to spend much time in doors (which I hate) I guess it does allow for wonderful crafting...scarves, socks, jumpers, hats blankets and throws....and maybe for the first time ever it might even mean a quilt.I made this scarf last night over a few beverages which did a nice job of washing away a very long, tiring and boring week.....its 10 stitches wide and about 30cms long and knitted in a bright red wool (100%) bought from Big W last winter...sadly it no longer has a label so I tell you exactly what it was....I think it might be a bit too scratchy and so am already planning a couple more in a softer cotton. The button means el escapo cant pull it off the way he does with hats and jackets....so far its worked well.....its also a good length long enough to fit down the front of a jacket but not so long it impedes crawling. Highly recommend them....took now time....very little wool and I felt a sense of achievement.

Also I've been wanting to make a quilt for a long time but have no idea how to go about it and so have always pulled out at the last minute and knitted or crocheted something for the bed instead...However after seeing so many other wonderful quilts, like this one....and this one...well there are too many to list....I've decided to do it....I don’t actually know how to do the quilting bit so I'm going to start with the pretty patchwork bit first....taking inspiration from Brian Wildsmith's wonderful counting book - "Brian Wildsmith's 123". I thought one side might look like this....or this...wish me luck and if you have any tips I'd love to hear them.

Waiting for an eclipse

Waiting for an eclipse
Originally uploaded by redmag

There was an eclipse over central Australia a few years ago......this is a group of my friends staring at the sun waiting for the big event to happen. This is literally in the middle of nowhere which happens to be a bit north of the Flinders ranges.

It was the perfect setting - the landscape looked like it was another planet, red and rocky and mars-like.

The whole day....actually the whole road trip to get here (two and half days of driving just to get there) was all part of the lead up-to the big event.....and we werent disappointed....the eclipse was breath-taking and magical.

This was the ultimate waiting holiday....this road trip came at a point in our lives where most of us were heading off to do new exciting things in other cities far away from each other....and this road trip filled in time in December while we waited for the year to end and the next phase in our lives to begin......it was an amazing trip....and the best way I could have imagined to bide my time.

The busy women's cookbook

The busy women's cookbook
Originally uploaded by redmag

Not sure why I bought this ...I guess it just spoke to me as things often do when you thrift shop... I guess for me though it was what the book was saying and why I had to have it that was unusual....it wasn’t for the kitsch factor or nostalgia......it wasn’t because that wee little lass on the cover is adorable (although she is - great yellow dress don't you think?)... or because I still entertain fanciful ideas about sitting down to dinner by candle light....

I guess I bought it on impulse..because - I cant believe its only just dawned on me....that I'm a busy woman....not sure when it happened or how....but I'm frazzled and spread too thin and all those other horrible cliches

Weeks of sickness - me and others in the family - broken up by flying visits to family - which while nice aren’t holidays - on top of my job have taken its toll.....and I guess by buying this book I felt like I wasn’t alone and while I was pretty sure this book wasn’t going to have the answers just the fact that there was a cookbook for busy women somehow means that there might be a solution out there for pulling myself back together (think liquid metal guy from terminator) anyway after a weekend of list making and crossing things off (mainly boring things like buy new shower curtain)... I'm starting to feel like things are starting to get back on track on the home front anyway......As you can see from my book apparently red candles are key to making it all work....so must pick some up when I’m at the shops!

Edited to add.....tomorrow is Monday so I'll be waiting....

Waiting for a train

Waiting for a train
Originally uploaded by redmag

This was taken in a train station in India back in January 2005. I love visiting India; I love the colours and the movement. I went to India before I went to Europe. Mumbai with its British influenced architecture, green cricket fields and double decker red buses seemed like a fantasy London built in the tropics to me.

Anyway.... I love that travelling in India is paradoxically all about waiting around.

This photo captures all of that for me and that’s why I've decided to start my waiting journey here.

I'd love it if you'd wait along with me… leave a comment if you decide to join in so that I can see too.

Yellow

Yellow
Originally uploaded by redmag

Winter hit hard this weekend (yes it is worth noting that its still only May! AND there's probably 5 months of this to go!! - Yesterday was nothing more than miserable.....anyway yellow staves of winter blues - my new Orlon cardigan and some Japanese bowls with lovely little egg yolk like centers...both made it all worth venturing outdoors….there were more multi coloured purchases…..but I’ll save those for later.


A heads up - I'm starting a new weekly themed blog entry starting Monday. It's titled "Waiting...." - basically I'm going to feature a photo I've taken while waiting for something....a train, a bus....for anything......I think waiting's so much better if stop and enjoy it.

I'd love it if you'd wait along with me… leave a comment if you do so that I can see too.

See you tomorrow...waiting in transit.

Built for speed

Built for speed
Originally uploaded by redmag

Those pants turned out well...and are apparently built for speed

Tweedles

Tweedles
Originally uploaded by redmag

A dum to match my dee

A lucky find!

A lucky find!
Originally uploaded by redmag

Over the weekend I did a bit of a wardrobe clean out and discovered that there was a chronic shortage of pants for the little lad. I had suspected for a few weeks that this might be the case - even when I'd just done washing there didn't seem to be much choice in the pant stakes when it came to getting him dressed each morning....I'd put it down to me not being a morning person. And his little bottom had started to appear over the top of the few pairs we had left in regular rotation.

So I've decided to make a couple of pairs myself - They're quick and easy and I like seeing him wear things I make.

Months ago while op-shopping my husband and I came across a Dreamworld teatowel complete with little Dreamworld Koalas riding on a train.

He convinced me that it would make a very cool pair of baby pants - sadly after diving in head first and cutting out one leg before planning how I'd place the pattern I found out that it wasn't quite enough teatowel to make pants. The one sad leg has spent the last few months sitting in the bottom of my sewing tin.

As luck would have it I saw another Dreamworld teatowel in an opshop last weekend ( I know two dreamworld teatowels who would have though two separate homes would have let them go!) So these bits of fabric are now set to become pants. Possibly the type of pants I and the baby will regret years from now when they reappear in a faded photo pinned to a board at a birthday celebration.....but I dont care

Little feet

Little feet
Originally uploaded by redmag

Happy Mother's day to all those mothers out there.....this week these toes turned one....which is a remarkable and wonderful feat - for the toes and his parents.

Needless to say like most birthday milestones there are things that come with age....honey being on the menu is just one of them....so this mother's day started with a wonderful breakfast with the whole sticky family in one bed eating crumpets with honey.

Hope your weekend has been a good one!

P.S A big hello to any of you who have come this way via ohdeedoh - I started working on next seasons theme this weekend so look out for that in a couple of weeks time....after a visit with family last weekend it seems that its a good time to work on creating a family tree....so that's winter's theme.

A work in progress

A work in progress
Originally uploaded by redmag

I feel like I've been working on this forever!
I haven’t I just ran out of wool just before going away last week and then while I was away I couldn’t find anymore - despite visiting 3 stores! So after a mad dash to Lincraft during the week its back on track!

It's hopefully going to a blue version of the little hooded jackets in the top right hand corner of the pattern book.

Already I know that I'm not going to make this one again - firstly, its a European pattern from 1973 and well....21st century babies – mine in particular – seem to be a lot larger than the age recommendations they had for this one (it was ages not dimensions which is a bit frustrating although to be fair I tend to dive into things and there might dimensions somewhere in the back that I missed)……….there was quite a bit of unravelling and making everything larger.

Secondly, for some reason it requires me to knit with two balls of 4 ply - which smacks of writing a pattern just to use a particular wool - it probably could have been knitted in a thicker ply which would have suited me as baby wool is expensive and doesn’t come in a very exciting range of colours.

Lastly the jacket has too many parts - the sleeves and the front and back yokes could have been knitted as one piece and the bottom of the coat could have been one part too! It would have been a much neater piece - less casting one and off, less ends to work in and less sewing up at the end and less bulky seemed bits – I really don’t like seams.

I do love the way it looks but I think next time (and there will need to be a next time in the near future as even with my modifications this isn’t going to fit for too long) I might use this an inspiration and just work up my own design.

P.S Don't you just love the face of the little boy on the left - such joy!