The room where the green's all green

A quick birthday present washer for the sister who hadn't had anything knitted from me in a while. I used this pattern - 'lacy dragon'. Made from scraps of (I think) Jo Sharp Desert Garden. The colour is a bit washed out here - rainy morning + doing a course but skills not there yet = frustrating photography.

Details about the thing underneath, coming soon.

Now I want purple carpet too

These photos are old now (from my trip to see the Sydney Biennale with my mum and sister in June last year) but I still really wanted to share them.

There was one large installation in the Concert Hall Northern Foyer of the Opera House, and it was such a pleasant environment we lounged around for a while. One of the staff told us the purple carpet was part of the installation. The piece was Julia Morison's Myriorama #7: Network.

I spent some time with the art but also enjoyed the whole complex space.





It would probably be an amazing space even if it didn't loom out over magnificent Sydney Harbour. But it does.

Spread the fishy love

My friend was inspired by the fishing game I made and put her own stamp on it for a little friend of hers. I took my hot glue gun and leftover magnets around to her place to assist, and the project came together very quickly. How much do we love the googly eyes? And the cute octopus, starfish and seahorse?

Wear fuzzy ears

This was another Christmas present for my nephew and niece. The ears were adapted from Flintknits Lamb Ears tutorial, with the linings knitted instead of cut out of felt. It was great to find such a nice way to use some of fuzzy novelty yarn I've had for years. I had hoped to make some tails to go with them, but some stuff happened and I ran out of time. I still hope to get around to that soon. I'm not sure of the best way to attach a costume tail (without a full costume), but was thinking a simple elastic band to go around the waist.

I knit i-cord to cover the headbands, which was pretty quick and easy. However, they turned out not exactly little-kid-proof, and were returned to me for reworking. The headbands had started to come out of their coverings. I also took the opportunity to replace the headbands with smaller ones, as they were a bit too big and didn't stay on too well. The kids ones I found were only a little bit smaller - there don't seem to be an toddler ones about. I guess toddlers don't wear those Alice style headbands, they would be forever taking them off and probably breaking them!

On take 2, I was able to reinforce the black one (which I had knit in two strands of plain acrylic) by darning over the end regions to tighten up any holes. But the brown one was knit in two different strands of novelty fluffy stuff (see the top photo) and it was loose and holey, and hard to reinforce. I decided to start again with brown sock wool and small needles. This meant it took a bit longer to knit the covering, but they shouldn't be able to push the headbands out this time. I sewed a strand of brown fuzzy stuff on to make it match the ears a bit better.

I didn't proclaim them to be any specific animals - I knew the kids would like them and would probably determine what animals they should be. I think, last I heard, they had been deemed to be a bunny (the grey) and a bear (brown).

Go fishing

It was not long before Christmas that I got this idea for my niece and nephew directly from a Craftzine blog post.

It was pretty quick and easy, and could just about be improvised on the spot on a rainy day. For the fishing rods, a piece of dowel sawed in two, some string (4ply crochet cotton), magnets (I wanted those horseshoe shaped ones but these little rectangles were all I could find), and hot glue to secure the knots at both ends. The fish were cut out from pieces of felted fabric left from other projects. My attempts to draw more than one kind of fish shape were a bit lame, so I found a range of simple fish shapes online and made paper templates. I did a quick bit of blanket stitch around the outside, and attached the small keyrings.

I did briefly consider more elaborate stuffed felt fish. But lots of fish are quite flat, and I decided I was happy for them to be quite simple, with the idea that the kids might draw or colour in their own fish to add to the set. Just a piece of thick paper, with a paper clip attached, will work.

This morning my flat white stared at me

So I stirred it and drank it.

See the light that's right before my eyes

This is the third one of these I have knitted, but the first that has made it in front of the camera. And it took three tries to knit it - I had to give up before Christmas after first running out of dollar shop acrylic and of course they don't stock it in summer; and then getting it about three-quarters finished in some recycled pink wool, hating the resulting fabric and realising I had made it too short anyway and would have to rip back to before the fringe starts.

The first Hallowig I ever made was for the twins' 2nd birthday last year. It was a deep blue-green colour, and I only made one but there were other (bought) presents including a pirate hat for dress-ups. The second one was a few months later, for their older brother. He knew exactly what he wanted: long pink hair with a purple circle. I drew a diagram at the time he described it, to make sure I had it right. A picture would probably help here - the whole thing is knitted in pink and then I crocheted the purple circle and sewed it on.

My friend saw me knitting that pink one and exclaimed that she wanted one for Christmas. She is going to wear it to do her yoga. (Probably with the airconditioning on.)

I felt it needed a little something extra, so I made a felted bow shape, beaded it and attached a brooch back. So it is a hairclip while attached to the wig, but can be pinned to something else and worn as a brooch.

Christmas is not only about aquiring cool new things - but I did aquire some cool new things

More christmas presents! These are the serviettes that mum made for me. I love the combination of fabrics, and the cotton is textured and soft. I feel like I need a special occasion to use them for the first time (and also perhaps a proper dining table).

And my sister got the globe for me in Japan. It is cardboard with a 'leather' textured finish. It is so well-designed that it was a joy to assemble. You can choose to leave out a segment to see the innards - inner core, outer core, mantle and upper mantle. Oh and the continents are printed with animals all over them.

I knew if I stopped talking you would start

I received this gorgeous project bag for Christmas from my sister. Actually it was a joint project with mum, apparently started a Christmas or two ago. (We've all had projects like that, right?)

Mum sewed the bag and sister E did the applique and embroidery. The silver fabric is from our bridesmaid's dresses from E's wedding several years ago. And the lining is nice and slippery which works well for knitting projects.

You might just be able to see in these photos, she has embroidered around some of the shapes within the large motifs.

I really love using this bag, and my current cardigan project went straight into it - it's dark grey so they even look elegant together.

Give me a dime so I can phone my mother

So various things happened in December, and I didn't manage to photograph the Christmas presents I made before they were hastily wrapped and then unwrapped.

This one came back to me for finishing on Boxing Day. It is the Turkish Stitch String Bag, made for my sister. I bought the crochet cotton online earlier this year with the intention of using it for the Sweetheart Dress I made for my niece, but when it arrived it was so bright and shiny, it just wasn't right. I ended up buying a different cotton for the dress, in a similar but softer colour and a slightly softer yarn too.

But little sister loved this apple green, so I put it away with a note on it to consider making a string-style bag for her.

I only added the button and loop today. She took it on a trial run to the pool and concluded that it could do with a closure. It's very wide - I doubled the stitch count because I was using much smaller needles (4mm) than the pattern called for, and I didn't want the holes to be really big. Doubling the stitches might have been a slight overreaction - half as much again might have been enough - though then I might have made it a little deeper. It doesn't really matter as it can stretch in one direction or the other, depending on the weight and shape of what's inside.