Mysterious!

Just took a night-time kitchen table photo of my new tea towel, using my phone camera. And it doesn't look too bad, all things considered. But what is it? More will be revealed when it's daylight and I can get a better photo. For now, this is all I gots.

Reprint

Yay, I have just got more freshly printed yardage back from the lovely Lara & Teegs & Lou (aka Ink & Spindle). The restocking of my Etsy shop was keenly noted by the lovely Penny (aka @pocketcarnival), so I figured it was worth mentioning here.

While I print smaller items myself, all the large-scale stuff is printed with Ink & Spindle. They do an amazing job and are so helpful (read: patient) with me when I'm agonising over colours and shades. This batch is a reprint - of the previously sold out Red Akzidenz and Red Polka Dots, along with a tweaked Teal Akzidenz and Teal Polka Dots (slightly darker shade from the original colour and I love it).

And it took me a while to notice, but the yarn colours I picked to knit with lately are pretty much the same as the colours I've printed my yardage in (except grey, which would look great in a bootie...I'll have to get onto that!) - freaky.

It's a new thing or two

It feels like it's been forever since I've posted, but even longer since I've updated the look of this here blog. So when I had some spare time this morning I did some changing and rearranging. It's kind of plain, but I'm a plain kind of girl and think I like it.

And the reason I've been quiet? I've been busy preparing for a wee (no, massive) market that's coming up soon. Starting to freak out a bit actually, as it's over two days and will, actually, be massive. But fun, as it seems so many great making folk are going to be there too - see here. Anway, below is a sneak-peak of one new thing from me that will be there - 'Trees' Cushions.

UPDATE: Just put a couple in my shop :)

Also, don't think I've mentioned that I've had a latent Twitter account for a while, but have actually been looking at it and even occasionally tweeting on it too, lately. Yep, I'm down with the technology, me. If you're that way inclined, you'll find me here.

10

A weekend away to celebrate an anniversary, involving lots of nice food (above is part of the edible garden at Elk Horn Roadhouse) and pretty views of the sea in winter. The crazy midnight wind on a lonesome hilltop was not so great, but the rest was. Hope your weekend was lovely too (and didn't involve flooding or earthquakes).

It's a Greens slide

A belated cheer for the fact that I now live in a Greens seat. Yay, go Melbourne, here's some Greens bunting for you. Now if only we could figure out the deal for the rest of the country...

OMG, my first Etsy Treasury

OK, after trying a bunch of times a while back (and giving up not long after) I've finally got an Etsy Treasury, yay! It was super easy to get, so I'm thinking it's open slather now with treasuries, none of this waiting around until the sun aligns with the moon and the magic number of 324 is reached (or whatever the system was before).

It's called Winter Warmers and here's the spiel:

It's winter in Australia and as much as I'm sick of it, there's also a lot I like about it...woolen things & knitting, heaters, umbrellas & rain and also the feeling that spring is just around the corner.

Catch it while it lasts!

Some new stuff

Have just put some new things in le Etsy shop...plush cushion covers in two styles and hemp/organic cotton tea towel packs - a polka dot 2-pack or a polka dots & letters 2-pack.

And here are some things you might not know about hemp, more reasons why it's such a great fabric:

• It is very absorbent and has a natural antiseptic character
• It also holds its shape and does not fade in the sun
• When blended with organic cotton, the fabric gains strength & elasticity and is extra soft

I noticed Etsy seems to have had its layout tweaked again - every time I look, something's been moved around. This time, each seller's main shop page has been tweaked to fit four items across the width and it looks great, go Etsy peeps.

OK, now time for some book shopping and weekend-planning. Happy Friday!

Craft Hatch market is done!

Here are some pictures from the Craft Hatch market I did a week ago...no idea if anyone else is interested in such things but I love looking at pictures of markets, so here goes!

It was the biggest Craft Victoria market to date, with 19 different stalls, and I just wish I had looked around a bit more at the great stuff there...next time. Markets are exhausting, for me anyway, but I came away from this one full of ideas and happy to see so many familiar and new faces (both selling and buying stuff). And a big thanks to the lovely Kim for organising!

It's...the Tree Towel!

Tree Towel in two-tone green

Tree Towel in chocolate brown & pink

OK, so my new design, The Tree Towel, is ready, yay! It is inspired by my recent travels in Sweden, can you tell? Sometimes new things seem to take forever to get from idea to object...in fact I got so impatient this time that I've already got another design figured out, all before this one was even released. But more about that later.

As I was so excited about The Tree Towel, I created a little flyer for it -

And of course, the towel's available in my Etsy shop now, in two colourways - two-tone green and chocolate brown and pink.Speaking of fliers, if you buy any of my tea towels or fabric goods, you'll also get a cute little sheet explaining more about the fabric - linen or hemp/organic cotton. For example, did you know that linen absorbs 20% or more of its weight in water and is bacteria resistant & can’t provoke allergies? Or that the hemp plant grows rapidly, requires only a modest amount of water and needs no pesticides, herbicides or fungicides? Well you do now :)

Happy Friday.

A gift for me

I've wanted some blank babushkas (matryoshkas) for a while now, and today I got them - a winter's gift to myself, let's call it, to fit in with my mid-winter melancholy. There's something so beautiful about the blanks and I wouldn't dare attempt to decorate them, much to the shock of the shopkeeper at Babushkas.

OK, time for some mid-winter cooking-of-hearty-food (a tip from Mattt, and great) while listening to some sad music.

Craft Cubed

OK, so I've been beavering away in my wee studio (ie: lounge room, my new workspace, more on that later) preparing for a wee market that's on soon. And then I realise it's on THIS SUNDAY! Better beaver a little faster, me thinks. I'll have a bunch of new things, including my new Trees tea towel in two colourways (the other to be revealed as soon as I can get a half decent photo of it), which is super exciting.

The event is part of Craft Cubed, for Craft Victoria’s annual festival, which this year has a theme of childhood. Looks like I'll have some pretty fine company (how cute are those bearded brooches?!) And hopefully I'll have some wee baby booties, which I am loving and decided to make some more of. Below is them on Lily's legs, aw!

Craft Hatch

Sunday 8 August

11am-4pm

The Atrium, Federation Square, Melbourne

Trees

Have been doing some test prints for my new tea towel design, 'Trees'. It's a fun way to spend a chilly Friday.

Bosnia

It's deep winter here in Melbourne and today, when it didn't stop raining all day and was just miserable, I needed a little something to cheer me up. So I had a flick through some of my photos of Bosnia in spring and I felt better right away - so pretty. The buildings, while a little sad looking, are still amazing and buildings like them were everywhere.

Knitting and crochet to warm the heart on a winter's day

Knitted Lemons, by Sharon Russell.

Whew, that's a long title blog post title. But a fitting one, as knitted and crocheted goods really made my day today. Sharon's lemons, above, are so sweet and seeing them in a cafe at lunch today made me smile. And Sandra's mini granny square, below, nearly ended up in the bin as I didn't see it in the package along with my wrist worms. Thanks Sandra!


Mini granny square, by Sandra Juto.

Knitting the night away - Part II

I did end up finishing my knitting the other night and here's a snap of the finished shoes. Almost want some for myself but that would be weird...adult baby shoes.

The pattern is here for any keen knitters, although do not underestimate how long it takes to make such tiny little things...unless you're a more experienced knitter than I, in which case it might take you no time at all!