Week 146 : Advent Calendar

I saw a cute advent calendar on Pinterest a few weeks ago. I've been saving our toilet roll tubes in order to craft it. Its not quite finished yet. (Hence the pins holding the roof glue steady)



I used lightweight brown paper glued to the front end.






The day numbers are text handwritten in gold with a fine black pen outline.



Now just to fill with treats and Christmas messages and then glue the back card on. My kids are looking forward to popping each December day and finding out the little surprises inside.

Week 144- 145 Cotton voile dress and sock progress

I started a dress in a blue and white cotton voile. It is partially assembled and the lining is pinned inside.

The pattern is Vogue V1351 and first sewn in a lightweight wool crepe in Week 103

I was inspired by a china bracelet bought on Etsy and received in Week 139

The skirt requires some adjustment at the side seams in order for the border print to fall gracefully. The al-line pattern was unsuited to a straight line selvedge so i will have to make a different line down.

It needs a narrow navy belt too. The blue ribbon is a temporary trial.


i finished the Regia socks. the colour is called Persian Carpet.

Week 142-3 : More socks and some dye

A fortnightly update because there have been unbloggable projects.

One pair of socks for my daughter finished. The yarn is Dream in Color Starry in the colour "Milky Spite" (Sprite? Although the label says spite).

Such a pretty skein with its silver sparkle and soft pastel pinks and greens. My daughter loved it. So did I.. initially.

Such a disappointment then, to see it knitted up and looking so insipid. The colour of goose-bumped skin you might say. Not a flattering topper to a little girls boot. Still.. it is a pair done for school camp, off my queue!

I used only 50% of the skein. Since I did a little dyeing this weekend, I over dyed it with purple. Its now prettier! The silver thread pops (not that my photo shows this very well) and the purple is a semisolid. I think my daughter will love another pair of socks from this.

Next I wound a lovely skein from Augustbird. The colour was a pre-order called Songbird. With much enthusiasm, I bought two.

I cast on for my daughter.

I will share this skein with my friend who has a daughter the same age and the second skein will go into stash for myself some time in the future.

I still have socks in queue. Life is still packed full of must-do and urgent tasks. Sock knitting is proving very calming.

I have fabric cut out and a range of crafts put aside for the forthcoming school holidays at the beginning of December.

I will be soap making and screen printing too. Can't wait for some freedom to get stuck in to that!

Week 141 : Holiday sock knitting

I knit two pairs of socks whilst on holiday.

These first are the Sweet Georgia Yarn Tough Love Sock in the colour Snapdragon.
My nine year old daughter is very tall for her age. So whilst i knit a narrower sock than I would have for an adult, I still knit a 9" overall length.

They look good over her boots.

This is my boy, with his hand knit socks from a few weeks ago and in his boots complete with a little holiday farm-mud.

I finished his pair of socks. This is Regia Design Line with the colours "Landscape Fire" designed by Kaffe Fasset.

I've spent this last week painting school stage sets. Fun and creative but unfortunately unbloggable.  Still knitting socks though, trying to finish a second pair for my daughter before she goes to school camp. Hopefully soon I will have some time to revisit my larger project and my sewing table.

Week 139 : New socks, a hat and sewing plans

This has been the first week of school holidays. We are taking a family holiday, within Australia, next week so the next post will be a fortnight in Week 141.

This last week I finished a hat for myself in Madtosh ASAP. The colour is Candlewick. Here is is modelled by my daughter with the assistance of her spaniel Toffee. My daughter is a shy model and wasn't really keen to be photographed today.

Very simple knit in the round on 9mm needles.

Socks are still being knitted.

I finished the Regia Landscape colours 'Storm' socks. here they are unblocked.

I have cast on the second sock of the Regia in the colour mix 'Persian Carpet'

Its very pretty and I am delighted the way the colour changes in the yarn sets up the pattern.  Its all I can do to put it aside.

I sorted though my cupboard and sorted sock yarn for the 'queue'. Especially for projects to take way with me next week.

Here are the skeins I've chosen.

From left to right: 

• Sundara sock yarn (which I haven't entered into my ravelry list yet. I think the colour is 'Travels to Greece', 
• Sundara Fingering Merino Cashmere in 'Guava', 
• Jill Draper Makes Stuff, Esopus Sock in 'Monarchs and Milkweed'
• Copper Corgi Fibre Studio Sock in 'Stay Warm' (this was bought last year on our holiday in Savannah.
• Madelinetosh Sock in 'Cosmic Wonder Dust'
• Sweet Georgia Tough Love Sock in 'Snapdragon'

Above Shibui Staccato Sock in a teal, which was bought as part of a kit (with matched silk cloud yarn. I won't knit the shawl so I will use the sock and stash the lace weight)

I started two further socks.

The first was a Wollmese Pure in the colour Bluebelle. I bought three skeins of this in destash but decided it was a bit too vivid for a sweater project. Its been in stash for quite a while. I decided to wind one skein and see how it knit up.

Unfortunately I don't like the pooling. The not quite spiral, not quite level stripes are very off-putting. I've unravelled this and I think all three skeins will go to a weaving project one day in the future.

My next sock project is more successful.

Its for my daughter (so I reduced the stitch count, although I'm wondering if I reduced too much. I would like them to last more than a few months.) 

She picked the skein. Its the Sweet Georgia Snapdragon from the above selection. 

Its knitting up with pooling but she still likes it and its a fun mix of colour.

I didn't get to finish, but I cut some fabric for a summer dress. 

The fabric is a cotton-silk voile with a border print that I'll arrange to be at the hem.

I've cut Vogue V1351. I've made this dress before in Week 103, so I know my length adjustments.

I bought this very cute bracelet on Etsy. Its made from a recycled china teacup. I have a fondness for blue and white china and this was too pretty to ignore. 

The Etsy maker is 'StayGoldMaryRose' (I've linked her Etsy shop). Lots of very cute things!

My daughter is modelling this, it sits a little smaller on my adult wrist.

Week 138 : Still knitting socks

I finished the blue Schoppel -Wolle socks I started in week 135. A perfect fit for my ten year old boy who is about to go on school camp.

Here he is.

The yarn detail again :
Schoppel-Wolle Admiral R Druck in colour 1566 1641 wel / Variegated blues.

The pattern is The Sock Recipe otherwise known as a 'good plain sock' by Stephanie Pearl McPhee in her book Knitting Rules.


I cast on a new sock. This yarn is Regia Design Line Effects and the colour is Persian Carpet.
I am absolutely enchanted by the dyeing of the yarn which produces this 'fair isle' effect when I knit it up.

This sock is knitting quickly as I'm motivated to continue just a little bit more to see what happens with the pattern.


The school holidays are coming up however and I would like to finish at least one sweater. The closest one to finishing is the Plucky gradient yarn. Hopefully I'll be able to post that soon.

Week 137 : Finished NY Cape, new socks

I finally got to sewing buttonholes on my NY cape. It is now finished and ready for wearing!

I chose black leather buttons bought from All Buttons a couple of weeks ago. I used eight, four down the front and four (paired) holding the underarms together.

I am still knitting the second blue Schoppel Wolle yarn sock from my last post. I cast on a second pair in this Regia 'Design Line' sock yarn as well.

The colour is Landscape Storm by Kaffe Fassett.

I have three balls of this, but only need two for socks (when I bought this I wasn't a sock knitter and had a different plan for it). So I'm going to be left with a single ball which won't be enough for more socks. Perhaps fingerless gloves would be an option.