Latest Crafty Happenings

Hello dear friends, welcome to August. I'm so happy as we're having some perfect winter days right now, a bit frosty to start - it was 0 c when I left for work this morning, and then a day of sunshine follows. It almost feels like spring is in the air, but August can get very chilly and cold. I have noticed that the mornings are getting lighter now too, when Glenn leaves for work around 7am it was pitch dark last week but this week it's noticeably lighter.

So what's on the go here over the past few weeks? My friend is due to have her baby later this month and just loved the knitting I gave her at the baby shower so I've got a couple of other little baby projects to make for her. I started this simple little blanket last week. The wool looks a bit pink in this photo but the colour is more like the second photo. 

I also started some more socks for my sister in law. This ball of Opal sock yarn was some of the first sock yarn I bought, can you see the sparkly thread running through the colours? I'm knitting Christine from Winwick Mum's basic sock pattern. 

I pulled out this stocking project on the weekend to stitch on, so enjoyable. 

Next up are three ornaments I stitched earlier in the year but only recently completely finished. All finished as flat ornaments with DMC thread handmade cording for the trims.

Mistletoe Kisses by Erica Michaels, this is Hannah's 2024 ornament.

The Prairie Schooler's 2024 Santa, I loved stitching the green stitching in this design.

From the 2023 Just Cross Stitch Ornaments magazine, a design by Karen Kirk from Fox & Rabbit.

What else do I have for today? My current reading pile, including some new books I purchased last week.  Looking forward to getting into all of these. 

See you soon xx

And just like that, it's July

How did it get to be July already, the last few weeks seem to have just whizzed by and here in New Zealand we're now fully into winter with some chilly days but also sunny days which help to keep the winter blues away.

I'm getting through my pile of stitching to be finished ever so slowly, ha ha.  This design by Primrose Cottage Stitches was my choice for April's ornament.

Then for May, I chose Winter Blessings by Plum Street Samplers.

Each week I pick one of my sampler projects out of my stitching basket to focus on, and then over the weekend I'll pick up something "small" to stitch on. Lately it's been these cute designs by Satsuma Street, Lolly Claus and Candy Claus.

 

They have been a lot of fun to stitch, I haven't stitched anything on perforated paper for a long time. I have several others in the series to stitch over the coming months.

Finally, I finished these socks which I'm pretty sure have been on the go for over two years! The yarn is by Mondim and I used the Basic 4ply Sock knitting pattern by Christine from Winwick Mum. 

My knitting mojo has well and truly returned as I've also been doing some knitting for a friend having a baby in August.

We try and get out walking with Diesel as often as we can, and this past Sunday was fairly warm while we walked by the river. We have several good tracks to pick from.

Of course, Diesel doesn't hesitate to jump straight in the water! 

This was my recently pile of library reserves. I've been reading a lot lately, taking my book to read during my lunch break, otherwise I'd have my lunch and go back straight to work.  

Have you read anything good lately?

Now I'm off to kit up one or two new projects for Jolly July, have a happy week.

See you soon x

Hi friends, Monday again already, the weeks seem to be zipping by! We had a good weekend just been, catching up on the usual around the house jobs, some baking and meal prep for the week ahead, and yay, the first part of the new series of Bridgeton was released. Hannah and I also went to a show on Saturday night, CHB Rising Stars Talent show - it was a fabulous evening of dance, singing and music. Several of Hannah's dance friends were in it and they were amazing.

For the first time in ages, I was able to spend some time at my sewing machine the other day so I've been sorting through my pile of finished stitched pieces, and will hopefully have some photos to share soon. This is a recent finish, I Stitch by Teresa Kogut. This design was given to Patreon club members after the Nashville needlework market. I'm thinking it might be made into a project bag.

Something else I haven't done in ages, is any knitting. One night last week I decided to hunt out my sock knitting. These socks have been on the go for a good two years and I really enjoyed knitting away for a few hours. 

Hannah's 16th birthday celebrations continued with a day out last Sunday. We started with ten pin bowling in Hastings and then over the Napier for the girls to enjoy some shopping while Glenn and I enjoyed a coffee in the sunshine. 

There were lots of people out and about, and after a few hours shopping it was time for a very late lunch at one of our favourite restaurants, Lone Star.

This was Glenn's meal - looked so yum! It was also Mother's day here so I was treated to dessert, chocolate brownie with a strawberry sauce, delicious.

We finished the afternoon with a walk around the Bluff Hill lookout, watching the sun come down.

 Thanks for stopping by, see you soon x

Sock Knitting

At the last of our stitching catch ups for 2021, several of us had a little sock knitting session. One of the ladies is new to sock knitting so we got her going on Christine Winwick Mum's basic 4 ply sock pattern, which you can find here.

It's been some time since I made any socks so I got this pretty yarn by Mondim out of my stash and cast on. This pair will be for my cousin Donna's birthday later in the year.

I'm using this lovely red cardinal project bag another of my stitching friends gave me for Christmas, isn't it super cute!

See you soon x

Sock Knitting

I always have a little craft project at work with me to work on during my lunch break, otherwise I'd carry on working at my desk :)  Recently I've been knitting and I'm really enjoying these socks.

I'm using the Nana Cindy yarn I received in a surprise Christmas box last year. It's so lovely to knit with and I just love the pops of neon colours on the soft grey colour.

The pattern is the Shepherdess Socks by Tracie Millar and I'm using my 2.5 mm ChiaoGoo circular needle. 

Isn't the stitch marker cute, this is also by Nana Cindy and my ball of yarn is tucked away safely in the cake glove.

See you soon x

Christmas Club 2019 & Sock Knitting

One of the things I like to do at the beginning of each year is have a good sort through the photo files on my computer. I sort my photos out each month into monthly files and have several for crafts - knitting, stitching, sewing, etc as well as our family photos. This then makes it so much easier when it comes to organising our family photo books, which I get printed each year through Snapfish.  I also check that my Flickr photo account is updated as well. 

I always find photos that I've missed sharing here and today's post is all about the wonderful Christmas Club I signed up for from Nana Cindy, a NZ yarn dyer.  It was a mystery box so I had no clue what was going to be in there but it sounded like a lot of fun and it was a lovely treat before Christmas.

So in early December a small box arrived and it was filled to the brim with lots of lovely goodies:

Two skeins of gorgeous yarn

A cake glove, I'd never seen these before so was very intrigued by it

Very cute stitch markers

Caramel sauce and homemade room spray, smells divine!

A cute ornament for the tree

Other fun goodies including a small box of lollies and chocolates which Hannah soon claimed!

And lastly, the cutest project bag

What a fun filled box! 

Now incase you're wondering what a cake glove it, because I was too, it's to put your skein of yarn in once you've wound it into a "cake" to keep it neat and tidy, pretty clever huh?

Here's mine in action - over the summer break I started a new pair of socks using one of the skeins.

The pattern I'm using is the Shepherdess Socks by Tracie Millar, of the Grocery Girls.  Tracie has some wonderful sock patterns available, they are fun to knit and very easy to follow.  I just love the pops of neon colours against the pale grey colour.  I haven't done any sock knitting in ages so I've been really enjoying knitting this pattern. The first sock is nearly done as I'm nearly up to the toe part.

If you've been wanting to try sock knitting but have been hesitant to, don't be, there are plenty of videos and tutorials to get you started. They are a lot of fun!

See you soon x

Cha Cha Chevron Socks & more Socks

I recently finished my Cha Cha Chevron socks. These were started on our Fiji holiday last September and I'm not quite sure why it took me so long to knit them as the pattern and lovely yarn were a pleasure to use.

All the details:

Pattern: Cha Cha Chevron by Sandra of Cherry Heart Designs
Yarn: Fig Bird 4ply by Circus Tonic Handmade
Needle Size: 2.25mm
Size: Medium

Then it was straight onto the next sock project, this time for Hannah :

See you soon x

All the Projects Round Up

How did it get to be the 1st March so quickly! February certainly well and truly whizzed on by. Already there's an autumn change in the air here, earlier this week we had a major drop in temperature and we went from using the cooling fan to having the heater on lol.  The mornings are much crisper now too but the days are lovely and sunny, I love this time of the year.

This weekend we are off to the beach for our last stay before next summer, that always makes me feel sad. We've had some happy times there this summer, with our family and friends.  

With the cooler weather, I've been stitching and knitting a lot more this week than previous weeks. I decided to get a few stitches done on the Merrily Merrily We Welcome Spring sampler by Blackbird Designs. I hadn't touched this since before Christmas. 

I'm using the recommended fabric and threads. This might take me awhile!

I also finally finished knitting the first sock of my Cha Cha Chevron socks. Started way back in September when I went on holiday to Fiji, these also haven't been worked on in awhile. 

Last weekend I also started a new baby blanket for one of my cousins having her first baby in a few months.

This is the Jasper Blanket by Linda Whaley, and the yarn I'm using is by the Wool Company, a 100% NZ wool, double knit.

I also helped my sewing buddies make some vinyl project bags. 

We followed the Floss Tube tutorial by Calico's Cross stitching, and had so many laughs together, especially when two of us cut our fabric wrong - using directional fabric can be a bit tricky lol. 

See you soon xx