ta dah.......

finished {unblocked}.....

whoop, whoop.......

a loooooooong time in the making.......

I wrote this post on 24th February 2011.......

that's over 4 years and 4 months ago folks.....

this blanket has taken that long to complete because I just kept putting it

down and not picking it up again......

it travelled from ballarat down south

to wells up north

then it went to perth down south {again}

and is now residing in bristol up north......

if blankets could receive air miles I would probably have a free toaster by now.....

{darning in ends..... the worst bit of a project.....}

it has also accompanied me on no less than 3 home education camping trips

where a little bit has been added each time......

it's been to the whitsundays in queensland and

to normandy in france......

it is a truly international blanket I would say.....

anyway, suffice to say it is coming to an end now and

I am quite glad it is nearly finished......

at one point I nearly threw my hands up in frustration and was going to

give it away, but my sister spoke very sternly to me and told me not to

be rash and silly and so I kept hold of it......

really glad I did now that the 'end is nigh'

it's grown on me again over these last few months and I think I shall

really enjoy snuggling under its woolly loveliness when the weather turns cooler.....

except I think I may be fighting this guy for possession of it.....

{look at that stare}......

I have to share with you though that I already have a bag of new

yarn for a new project which is coming with me on my holibobs next week......

this one is for my boy {well, it's not specifically for him but it is going to be

made from a synthetic yarn and not pure wool as wool makes him itch like mad

so he has missed out on snuggles under the blankets to this point......

time to put that right I think.....

friendship......

true friendship is one of the most precious things I can think of......

you can be miles apart - thousands of miles infact -

and friendship can remain strong and sweet.....

it doesn't come to an end just because you're not in the same neighbourhood...

some of my friendships go 'way back' to childhood -

some only go back a year or so -

but I treasure the friendships I have made over the years

even if I don't get to see those friends as often as I would like

{that is one of the tricky things about having friends in all sorts of far flung places.....}

one of my precious home-ed friends moved to the USA a few

years ago and so I don't get to see much of her these days.....

thanks to whizzy technology though we can still have a good chat every now and again

and catch up on all the latest news - even share a coffee over cyberspace if the mood takes us....

we were chatting earlier on in the year and she asked if I would be

up for knitting her cafetiere a little cosy to keep her morning coffee warm as

it was cooling down quicker than she was able to drink it.....

{that sounds like a dreadful situation and calls for immediate attention}

and so I set about finding a pattern and wool colour that she would like.....

now Claire also has two amazing daughters

{and a fabulous son as well}

and she had a couple of ideas for gifts that they might like too......

so, with my knitting needles clickety clacking, I got busy and was able

 to post a little package off to her a couple of weeks ago.....

I remembered to take a photo of the little woodland creatures

I knitted for Mathilda......

here they are {I have shared this photo before, you'll have to forgive the repetition.....} 

sooooo cute and a brilliant pattern made them very straightforward to make.....

but I forgot to take photos of the other goodies before I posted them,

I was just so excited to have finished them that I popped them into a postal

envelope lickety split before even realising that I didn't have a photo to share.....

fortunately Claire took some photos of the knitted goods 'in action'

so I can still share them with you......

this cafetiere cosy was adapted from a pattern I found on ravelry.....

{it had a non-identical twin..... the other one was grey.....}

and the pattern for these simple socks started life as two different sock patterns

on ravelry which I 'merged' to make my own version of the

simple-top-down-short-row-heel-sock.....

with love, dear friend..... xx

the needles are where it's at......

I am loving the little knitted creatures that are slipping off

my needles at the moment.....

they seem to have personalities all of their own and they

are destined to be loved by a very sweet little girl......

my cats have different ideas however and would like for them to be their playthings....

clickety clack......

I had a request to make a few little animals for a sweet little friend.....

and so I had a gander about on ravelry and found this pattern.....

behold, a plethora of knitted cuteness.....

mr foxy loxy came off the needles first......

those eyes.....

that look.....

I swooned.....

what.......?

the temps have reached 100 degrees.....

I am crocheting a shawl.....

creative shenanigans......

as part of the inter-house arts festival that is happening at the kids'

school tomorrow they get to dress up as a character from a book....

well, gone are the days when they would beg me to make them something like

a little red riding hood costume, instead evie decided that she wanted

to go as annabeth from the percy jackson book series and she was

adamant that this would involved an orange camp half-blood t-shirt.......

certain that I could 'whip one up' she left it in my capable hands

with a print out of the logo she wanted put on there.....

no pressure then......

I managed to find a cheap t-shirt in target which met with 

her approval and set about deciding the best way to get the

logo on there with my limited resources.....

this is what I managed to do with a black fabric marker

and the print out she gave me.....

fortunately, the result met with her approval......

phew......

I also went to a textile workshop at our local IKEA this morning

which was quite interesting and they even gave everyone

who attended a voucher for a free coffee and cake.....

that was a bit of a brucey bonus.....

they also gave us all a raffle ticket at the start of the 

workshop which I tucked safely into my pocket....... 

we were told that they would be doing a bit of a 'prize draw' at the end of the workshop 

and would be giving away 3 little bundles of fabric to some lucky winners......

guess what?  I was one of the three numbers called out......

I think I made a little squeally noise when they called my number just because

I never win anything so it was a bit exciting to have my number called this time.....

oh, the simple things that give me pleasure......

this was the little bundle I received....

and now all I have to do is decide what shall I make from them.......

{that could take years based on my history.....}