Yarn Along

I  finally published a pattern on Ravelry this week. 

sinéad

Its a very simple pattern for a toddler neck-warmer/cowl and its free, so go have a look if you have a little one whose neck might be in need of some warmth this Winter.

I've got a million knitting projects on the go at the minute. Well maybe not quite a million. There's Multnomah, my Market Bag, some little items for my shop, and the cutest of them all these little mittens for Sadhbh.  Ok. So there are four knitting projects on the go. Still it feels like a million, perhaps because of all the ripping out I'm having to do. I've had to rip back half my market bag and eight rows of Multnomah. 

My head is feeling hectic and I keep getting distracted by other creative projects, for Dubhessas classroom and Osgars birthday, and a feeling that I really need to get to my sewing machine and sew something soon.   I really want to get both  these big knitting proejcts finished, so I can immerse myself in just one thing for a while.  And feel a bit calmer.

I'm still reading Second Chance Mother.  Slowly!

Happy Knitting!

#18

I fell of the bandwagon on Friday.  I didn't crochet on Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday. Yesterday I got my motif mojo back.  I decided that it was against the rules to try and make up my numbers. It is after all "a crochet motif a day".  I think the thoughts of having to crochet 2, then 3 then 4 motifs just to keep up put me off crocheting anything on Monday! Here is yesterdays.

My hands have not been idle.  The girls have a few birthday parties coming up this weekend.  My go to present this year is an embroidered felt pouch with some bars of beeswax inside.  I've been mixing it up with an embroidered name here, if its a short one and initial there and then a little picture, if I've got the time.  I think its quite a sweet present.

Friday night is Dubhessa's first sleepover at a friends place.  I bought her a new set of PJs today and have found her a pink sleeping bag I had stashed at the back of a cupboard.  I have no idea what to expect other than a grumpy sleep deprived girl on Saturday.  Is this about right?

I remember my first sleepover at a friends place.  I was 10. My mam asked me if I had packed clean knickers as I was on my way out the door. . . how embarrassing. It was summer and the evening stayed bright for hours.  We listened to Bon Jovi on a boom box outside on the street with some kids from school,  we had pizza and popcorn for dinner then we slept tops and tails in bed.  Do you remember your first sleepover?

#14 #15 #16 & #17

Today, driving Osgar to kinder, I passed Troy and the girls on their tandem tag-a-long cycling to school.  I beeped and they waved as I drove along side them to the next set of lights, then we blew kisses as they turned off.  I smiled all the way to kinder.

I'd only said goodbye to them 10 minutes before. We were in a rush, trying not to be in a rush, stressed and trying not to be stressed about getting four children and two adults out of the door.  I'm sure I wasn't smiling.   I'm going to try and keep that image of them cycling up St.Georges Road laughing and smiling in my head tomorrow morning. I'm going to go slowly and smile at them and wave goodbye and blow kisses.

The window ledge is covered in these green crochets. I've been inventing my own motifs the last few days.  Once you've hooked up 13 or so its pretty easy to improvise!  I'm running out of green wool scraps so looks like I might have to visit the wool shop tomorrow, bummer eh?

Yarn Along

Last night I went to a meeting at the school. The mum sitting opposite me was wearing a crochet necklace that I had made for the Mothers Day stall.  I don't think she has any idea that I made it. It was very nice sitting opposite her all night.  I had no idea whether any of the kids would buy them or not, let alone a mum would actually wear it!

I realised that I've got some long outstanding knitting projects that need to be finished. So Multnomah is on hold.  One of them is the Market Bag that I started about 2 years ago. . . The problem with this baby is that I'm hand spinning the wool for it. I bought a lovely hand dyed batt from this lady which I spun on a drop spindle, a couple of years ago, but it wasn't near enough for this bag.   So I bought a little more roving from a local shop in similar colours and spun that, but it still wasn't enough.  I've got a spinning wheel now and I'm hoping that this last lot (the fourth!) that I've spun will be enough to get me a bag with handles, that I can use. . . after two years.

I've started reading Second Chance Mother.  On my iPad again!

 Happy Knitting 

#13

I've had an uneasy feeling in my tummy all day.  One of those things you have to deal with as a parent of school aged kids.   I'm a novice to this parenting business.  I hope its a storm in a teacup and I've handled it ok. One friend said to me ... "for the rest of your life you will only ever be as happy as your most unhappy child" ... urgh I don't want to think about that!

I do want to think about how pretty all these lovely crochet motifs look. Especially in the 3 or so minutes that the sun shone through the (filthy!) window today.

#12

Having a great mothers day and feeling very loved and cuddled.

#11

Snuggling on the couch, about to watch Breaking Bad and knitting.

A Motif a Day in May #9 & #10

 

#9 & #10

More Japanese flowers.  I'm hoping that  #10 will look a little more impressive with a wee bit of blocking.  Yay for the weekend, no work for Daddy, coffee with friends, kids birthday parties (the stress free kind where its not you kids!) And hopefully a bit of of being spoiled on Mothers Day.

Yarn Along

I'm just about to start the lace section on my Multnomah.  I'm a bit nervous.  This wool, Malabrigo Lace, its like knitting with thin air.  You hardly know whether the wool's in your hand or not sometimes! I know I'll never be able to fix a mistake in it and ripping back sections of lace is so incredibly tedious.  I think I'm going to use a life line every 5 rows or so.  Its going to be so soft this one, and the subtle colour variations are divine.

I've started reading Secret Daughter on my iPad.  I'm definitely not over books but I think love reading this way.  You don't have to hold the pages open, its bright and easy on your eyes, it already knows where you last left off. What about you. What do you prefer? Are you a die hard paper book lover or have you been tempted to the digital book world.

Happy Knitting!

A Motif a Day in May #8

#8, originally uploaded by triskele-threads.

A Motif a Day in May #7

Today is feeling easier.  The kids are all still home, but so is Troy. The sun is streaming in through the window. The clothes are drying outside. My head feels lighter.

I just made creamy almond butter for the first time in the food processor. When I tired before I seemed to end up with just almond meal and gave up.  The secret is to not give up.  It took about 10 minutes of whizzing.  I'm looking forward to giving it to the kids on rice crackers at lunch time.  Yay for one less thing on the supermarket shopping list.

I've just  finished tagging and wrapping up this yummy Noro Shawl, which I knitted on behalf of Tadhgs prep class as a farewell for the prep teacher who is sadly leaving this week.  She'll be missed. I'll take Tadhg in to school this afternoon for the afternoon tea so we can give it to her. I'm anxious to see how this is going to affect Tadhg over the next few weeks.  We had a horrible year last year.   Although she loved Kinder she did not love me dropping her off.  It was halfway through term 4 before she stopped crying and clinging to me when I left.  I was reassured that she was happy out again withing 5 minutes of me leaving. . . but man I just felt rotten until I picked her up again.  School has been going better for her with a few wobbly days here and there.  I'm hoping she'll take this change in her stride.

I'm not really excited about this sort of hexagon, today's #7, but I'm loving my row of green crochet gathering on the window sill and thinking about where I'm going to hang them in the kitchen when they are done.  

 On a completely different topic. How long should I wait for my wool from the states to arrive before I start to stress that its not coming?  I ordered 10th April . . . I have been checking the post box hopefully since a week later, obviously a bit enthusiastic of me.  Its been a month .. now I'm starting to get worried.  Have customs taken it? Did someone nick it out of my mailbox? Did it ever get posted?  Am I being paranoid?  How long does your wool take to arrive?  Do you wait patiently, or impatiently like me!

A Motif a Day in May #5 & #6

#6 from today. I finally overcame my fear of Japanese crochet patterns and look .... tis just like the picture!  This website helped me heaps, but I'm a convert for sure.  Its going to be a bit too floppy for bunting I think, but it will look great embellishing something I reckon.  I can't remember where this pattern is from but gets you to make hundreds of these and join them together in a scarf.   Well maybe not hundreds, but way more than I'm ever going to make.



The one below is yesterdays #5, a lotus flower.  Make three of these and you've got yourself a lovely cuff.  My whole clan is sick today.  All four kids and us two . . . We've been sipping spicy fish soup and hot lemon drinks with peppermint and lemon balm from the garden.  Hope we're on the mend tomorrow, this house is too small for six sick grumpies!

A Motif a Day in May #4

Its wet and cold and I've got a sinus infection and I'm grumpy. I've had to cancel coffee with some girlfriends.  I'm not up to going to the Made 'n Thornbury Craft Market, which I was really looking forward to. The mess that four kids can make in a morning and then refuse to tidy up is outrageous.  Keeping the heating at 18C is JUST TOO COLD! 

I'm lucky that I've got an understanding man who has vacated the house with all of the kids and left me in peace to crochet a motif, have a cup of tea and then go back to bed. I'm hoping I wake up less grumpy this time. 

A Motif a Day in May #3

We had a cuppa after drop off this morning with some parents from Tadhgs prep class.  One of the Mums brought a big bag of fleece and we all made felt beads to thread into a necklace for the prep teacher who is leaving next week.  Such a lovely thing to do in a group.  This is something I'd love to do on a regular basis, sort of informal craft morning for a bunch of mums with all the kids around.

A Motif a Day in May #2

Begun while standing at the kitchen bench waiting for the kettle to boil. Finished over a cup of tea and a couple of games of Guess Who with Oski. Guess who won?

A Motif a Day in May #1

May is a tough month.   In fact I turned the calender over the other day to mark  kinder duty for my son Osgars birthday and fully expected to see June there at the top.  I stared in bewilderment when I saw it was May, not June this month. I thought it was his birthday next week. I've even got his present already, and was starting to stress about not finishing his doll on time.  Its actually not for 5 more weeks!

 May in Ireland is the start of Summer, new beginnings cherry blossoms, longer evenings.  Even after 9 years in Melbourne when someone says May to me I think .. yay ...Summers coming (Not that the Irish Summer is up to much to be honest with you!).  Then I remember its the opposite here.  So to get my mind of it and to challenge myself to something that it most probably impossible for me, I'm joining Kate in a A motif a day in May. 

I got a bag of green ball ends at the Kinder fete for $1 a couple of weeks ago.  I'm going to crochet up some pretty little motifs like this one and make them into a pretty garland for the kitchen.  If I get 31 of them made and its hanging in my kitchen by June 1st it means that one or several of my kids will have been deprived of freshly laundered clothes this month.