Yarn Just Makes it Right ......

Winding Yarn ready for a new scarf

Yarn just seems to have this soothing sensation to it that just makes the world a better place .... don't you think??   Although you may think I've been sitting on my hands all month I can assure you that is far from the case! 
My little sewing cabin is now the home of all the household boxes that have been packed up and are awaiting the first shift scheduled for mid June when hubbie and I plan to head to our home in Maryborough for 2 weeks of Annual Leave.  We figured we may as well get a removalist in and get all the excess stuff moved up there and just be left with minimal stuff here till we sell.   Naturally minimal to

The sewing cabin is now the storage centre

me means that I need to ensure I have sufficient yarn of various weights and types for any knitting or crochet projects I'll need to do between now and whenever the house sells ....... and of course I must keep out my BOM projects and materials ........ and then there is the hexie blogging tablecloth (which is due for a post of its own in the near future) ....... and of course I best keep out the smaller hexie stuff just in case .........

Pete has been busy sorting and cutting bits of wood ...... Burls to be exact for a project or two he has in mind when the new journey begins .......   Seems we both enjoy a bit of creativity lol

Anyhow at the very least I've managed to get a couple of projects completed during April ....... The

Jeans cushion for daughter Stacey before her operation ( Thankyou to those who have asked after her, she seems to be doing well and we finally received the results back that the lump removed is not cancerous! 

And I've also managed to finish a pair of fingerless gloves - my first ever pair.  The pattern is Grey Islands by Laura Aylor using a worsted weight yarn (12 ply), so they will be perfect for the

cooler weather that is rolling in here at the moment!  Hubbie even lit the fire up this week, so it will be kept going now until we head off on holidays in June.

All the sorting and packing has been keeping me busy between that and work so it was lovely to go and visit the Ravely Site the other day ................. Naturally that meant pulling some yarn out of my

The 4 yarns planned for the scarf

stash pile and enjoying the therapeutic goodness of winding it  ready to begin the new project ....... Laura Aylors newest scarf pattern "So Happy Together".  I'm loving the texture that's being created with this easy knit.  Also loving using some of this yarn that I've had stashed for quite a bit ...... Merino with 15% silk in it  (the white and Blue yarn, Red is angora and the multi colour is from Little Plum Yarn).  Click on my ravelry link on the side bar and go to my projects page to see further details.

Another work in progress is Jaxsons  cotton crochet blanket ....... I'm just working on the edging now so it will be a finish in May.

Up to date on the "Down the Rabbit Hole" BOM with the next month pattern due out in a couple of days.

And just to add to April,  I decided I needed to improve my health and fitness ........ so I've bitten

the bullet and signed up for a round of 12WBT which begins on May 8.  I'm currently working on the preseason stuff which is super important!  I know this from previous rounds over the past few years as it gets your mindset in the right place and sets you up ready for the 12 weeks which tend to fly by before you have time to take a breath!!

So, what have you been up to this month??  Can't wait to hear ......
Hugs, Sharm

April Friday Night with Friends

The first week of April is down already, which of course meant the first Friday of the month

joining in with lots of other ladies around the world for some stitching of one kind or another with our lovely host Cheryll.  This time I did something totally different ...... I mentioned our daughter Stacey came up for a visit the other weekend and while she was here she had to sort through a pile of her clothes - she was a little sad to have to throw all her coloured denim shorts and a special pair of flowered denim jeans into the "opp shop" pile since they no longer fit her.   Well she has just found out she is scheduled for some surgery (something rather unexpected occurred a couple of months back and she was placed on a priority list) ......  So on Friday I figured I might just take those shorts and jeans out of the pile and cut them up .......... 

The Front

And turn them into a pillow for her ............ 

And the Back - the fav flowered jeans

I'm heading down to Melbourne on Wednesday to stay with her and take her into the  The Royal Womens Hospital on Thursday.  Strangely enough this is the hospital she was tranfered to by neonatal unit hours after she was born and placed on life support where she stayed hooked up for 3 very long days and nights while they waited to see if she was strong enough to fight and survive.  Three times during the first few months the doctors expected her to die ........ now here we are 27 and a half years later .......... I expect I'm going to have some very mixed emotions while waiting for her to come out of surgery!    Anyhow, I'll be taking the pillow down with me to give her and sure hope she embraces the fact that I cut her favourite jeans up lol

After working on the pillow, I turned to do some stitching on month 3 of Down the Rabbit Hole -

this month is working on leaves, the centre circle and then a border. 
I decided to pull out this cute little seal skin thimble that was sent to me all the way from Alaska by an online friend a few years ago.  I've held off using it for years, but decided it was time to use it.

Night time sees me sitting down for an hour or so in front of the TV and working on the ripple cotton crochet blanket for grandson Jaxson.  Still a while to go on it yet though!  A bit like this post which has had to wait since yesterday arvo for google photos to decide it was happy to play! 

7 Years!

Apparently my last 2 posts haven't actually published and are somewhere in cyberspace!!  How frustrating is that!!  So it's now 2 weeks or there abouts since I last posted, and I'll try to fill you in!  On March 26 it was 7 years since we collected the keys to the cottage here at Bundalong!  How time flies!!  So with the end of March I was able to make the OPAM report having finished 2 projects - the crochet blanket and a sewn chair cover.

  I do enjoy linking up with Peg and Kris for this "one project a month" as it's good to be able to look back and see what's been achieved during the year.  Of course I've also been keeping up with my two BOM's but since they are a block each month the projects won't be actually finished till the end of the year! The 3rd pattern is just out for down the rabbit hole as it get released the very last day of the month, so I'm currently working on cutting out little leaves for the flowers - I'll show you during the week sometime. 

This weekend gone we had daughter and partner come for a quick visit while they were up from Melbourne to attend a christening.  With the cold weather now beginning I gave John the beanie I made up for him in January and he was thrilled with it!  A very good reaction and he's planning to wear it to and from work!






For those wondering if I've started attacking that load of cotton yarn that arrived last week ....... well, of course I have lol ......... I've begun work on a  crochet ripple blanket for our youngest grandchild Jaxson in Bubblegum Crush, Orange and Lime Crush which were his chosen colours!

The first row of the ripple blanket

Progress on the Alternate Ripple

I fell for some magazines during the week and finally got to sit on the front veranda over the

weekend with a cuppa and begin having a bit of a read of them.  I'm really missing us not having our vegie patch - not much point with the house on the market ...... however a pumpkin vine has decided to grow in one of the patches which is kinda nice to have them covered in something!  It has quite big leaves compared to the normal pumpkin vine that has been growing here.  It's growing so fast that it already has a few decent sized pumpkins that can be seen growing!  I'm wondering if it's a Jap or maybe a Queensland Blue ..... guess I'll find out soon enough lol
 

That's it for me given this is the third time for writing this,..... I'm feeling a little despondent the past few days so I sure hope that passes soon - at least this week is my "short" working week so I'll get more days at home later in the week to get things done.