Wooly booties

Wooly booties
Originally uploaded by redmag

I accidentally "felted" my favourite grey jumper at the end of last winter ....and as the hoarder that I am decided to add it to my stash rather than get rid of it....and there it languished for nearly a year....

.....until this week when I dug it out in the hope of making something useful from it....these two wooly boots are from one sleeve......the buttons (again from here) are largely ornamental....

....I think they're cute and they stay on reasonably well....maybe next time I'll put some elastic on the inside of the boot at the back of the ankle to make them extra secure......if you'd like the pattern (for 3 month old feet) just leave a comment and I"ll email it to you....

When does collecting become an addiction

A nana rug collection
Originally uploaded by redmag

...is it when the Mr begins lunchtime conversation with : "....so did you buy another nana rug this morning?"

Is it when you look in any direction in your house and you see at least one thing from your ever growing "collection" ? (Confession: There are another four blankets off camera in that room alone!!)

Is it when you make a beeline straight for the manchester section of every op shop that crosses your path in the hope of finding another one?

I think i have a problem...... at least its a warm fuzzy one

Rainbow chard

Rainbow chard
Originally uploaded by redmag

For years and years I've bought punnets of Rainbow Chard seedlings and never once have I ever gotten anything other than the red chard - I don't really mind, I quite like the red chard with its small stems that you can eat, soft leaves and pretty colour - but still, I always felt a little misled when none of the other colours appeared.....this year I actually have all three colours growing in my garden - remarkable!!

This bunch is due to turned into a spinach, chili and chickpea soup....it's still in the making stage so no recipe to share yet.......and given the string of disasters I've had in the kitchen and craft area this week - in the interests of public saftly it's probably best I dont share it .......here's a very flat cake from Monday for instance.....hopefully I'll be graced with some creative mojo tomorrow.....

Here are some very funny shots of other people's cooking distaster photos.

Happy hump day

Otto strikes a pose

Otto strikes a pose
Originally uploaded by redmag

I think he felt sorry for me....... he actually sighed and then struck a pose which he held for a few seconds.....he's a bit of a duffa but a very nice looking one.....

The Ramones meet Dr Suess

The Ramones meet Dr Suess
Originally uploaded by redmag

....my husband packed up a bunch of clothing to send off the the op shops over the weekend and I spotted an old Ramones tshirt amoungst the pile......and given I'm trying to reduce reuse and recycle as much as possible i fished it out and refashioned it into a toddler tee during naptime this arvo.....when i tried to coax said toddler into trying it on later in the day...with promises that it was cool....he countered with a very firm - "not cool" he's probably right but until he gets a part-time job I get a bigger say in his wardrobe than he does....and I quite like it.....here's the "making of" picture.

Firing it up

Firing it up
Originally uploaded by redmag

It's done - and while it still needs some cosmetic things done to it given it sits smack bang in the middle of the backyard and can be viewed from every point on our block - and many of the neighbours - today we enjoyed blue skies (thank god)....and wood-fired pizzas (delicious!)

....there was some tragically doomed crafting activity - booties for the baby made from patterns intended for babes much smaller than mine. Although it was funny to see you could only squeeze 4 toes into the finished product and dont even ask about how far the straps got round his sturdy ankles...............also a first attempt at mittens for the toddler - sadly his hands are stumpier than the ideal toddler the pattern was designed for (even more sad is that his hands take after mine - i may as well have 5 thumbs - and now I think about it finding gloves that fit me is impossible, maybe I'll strike mittens of the winter to do list for everyone's sake he can just stick his hands in his pockets!).

....so tomorrow I renew my love affair with the sewing machine while I search for new things to knit that might actually fit my apparently misshapen family.....

…..hope your weekend was what you needed it to be....and for those of you in Canberra let us please have more of this weather and less of the only 4 degrees at 3pm kind this coming week.

Three finished items

Three finished items
Originally uploaded by redmag

Three little cardigans all done and dusted (ok I didn't block them but I am an instant gratification type and blocking before sewing them up was just never going to happen - they will be washed in good time.)

The one closest to the camera is a six and a half stitches cardigan (I actually knitted that one two years ago but it needed to be repaired before it could be worn this time round and so counts for this weeks knitting related activity.

The middle one - is my favourite - it's the duffle coat from Debbie Bliss' Essential Baby. I used Paton's Serenity (DK Bamboo and Cotton) in Black. The buttons are japanese vintage and charcoal in colour from here and were added using red thread. It's just a lovely shaped hooded coat (The hood is not shown here but trust me it is nice)

The far one is also from Essential Baby - but I used some of my own tweaks - the sleeves are longer to provide real protention from the cold (this is Canberra and my house is made from monocrete!) I also didnt really like the contrast and suck at picking up stitches along the neckline so to save the jumper I just machine sewed black bias binding along the neck line and continued it on to be the tie.

Apologies for the crap photo - while it was sunny today it was bitterly cold and there wasnt much motivation to go back out and re-shoot.

Knitting inspiration

Knitting inspiration
Originally uploaded by redmag

The week of knitting continues and the clickety-clack of knitting needles can be heard at odd hours of the day and night....although that makes it seem like a knit like a train which is far from the case - what sound would a snail make if it could knit I wonder?.....

I am making terrific progress on my half arsed half finished piles of projects (based on my normal performance level anyway) and we should all have winter woollies before winter ends this year....one problem - crappy weather, terrible light and so no photos....instead here is other people's knitted eye candy.....

Also an oven update for those eagerly awaiting wood fired treats....nearly done - ONLY one layer of concrete to go I'm told ......here's a blow by blow pictorial account of its erection thus far for those of you who like to see how these things are done.

A week of knitting

Neat (ish) stitching
Originally uploaded by redmag

I have so many knitting projects lying around that I thought this week I'd devote myself to all things knitting and hopefully finish them all (fingers crossed) off.....I've never been a fan of seams in knitting - I'd always thought you just use backstitch to join all the bits together....leaving a bulky and usually ugly seam in your wake - it really never worked for baby clothing....well apparently there are other stitches you can use....like Mattress stitch.....while I still need more practise because if i was still in Year 8 Craft I'd be asked to rip this seam out and do it again neater (and this is one of the better ones)....this seam (using mattress rather than back) looks almost like a real jumper from a proper knitter.....so no more avoiding seams like the plague......

…although you do still have to weave in all those annoying threads so I'm not exactly a seam lover just no longer a seam hater.....

I'm just waiting for the shops to open tomorrow to get some buttons for this one and I'll show you the finished thing and tell you all the details in a day or so.......

For the Australian readers hope you're having a lovely extra day of weekend on this the Queen's (un)birthday weekend.

Thank God its friday....

Otto takes this moment of calm to also nap
Originally uploaded by redmag

...and all is quite and EVERYONE is actually asleep ( yes at the same time)....we've all been sick this week....and every time I feel like we're all on the mend someone breaks ranks and gets cranky and snotty....so I've given up dreaming of life without mucus..even the dog seems to have had enough and has curled up in the sunniest comfiest pozzie in the house for a nap....I'm torn between enjoying the silence and popping my head on a lovely cushiony cloud and catching some zzzz but given Otto has claimed the good spot I might soldier on....

I also have a strange craving for homemade vanilla slices. I hope it’s not a snot related association rather just a craving for some comforting sugar infused custard. ....anyway just wanted to say were still here and to anyone I haven’t emailed or replied to this week - sorry - and I'll get to you as soon as we stop coughing ourselves awake in the wee hours of the morning and need hugs to get back to sleep....have a great weekend and if you have a killer vanilla slice recipe please shoot it my way....

More brave new pants

More brave new pants
Originally uploaded by redmag

....those of you who've seen my back catalogue might remember me making some pants from a couple of Dreamworld tea towels about this time last year....well during last week's dream op-shop run I picked up a very bright and very cool 1970's tea towel covered in the cutest (although very un-pc) pictures of Aussie cowboys working hard with their animals in the outback....and it was huge!!! One tea towel easily became a pair of pants for my smallest child (they are either a big 000 or a small 00). There are close ups of the pictures here, here and here.....

Those of you who know me in real-life might have heard me complain about how terrible the range of clothing for little boys is when compared with the choice and variety offered to little girls once or twice (or a 1000 times) while these pants aren’t everyone’s cup-of-tea and I’m sure that he will grow up and have a phase where he is embarrassed by them…I love them – bright, colourful and just kitsch enough to be interesting without being totally clown like (although others might disagree) I just wish I could buy little things like this – if someone knows of a magical place where you can get lovelies like these I’d love to hear.

(Edited to add - forgot to give the woodfired oven update - we now have gravel in the base making it actually base like....and the frame for the opening has been cast....next weekend is a long weekend here and the oven is due to be finished then)