A different granny

Notice anything different with the granny below?

It's rectangular (or oblongish!) rather than the regular square.
I thought I try to make bubba a dressing gown with 2 rectangular front pieces, a large one for the back and smaller ones for the arms.
I'll let you know how I go!
Have you ever made a rectangular granny or a baby dressing gown... any tips?

Book find: Stray Sock Sewing

  New book I'm about to gift to someone...

It shows you how to choose the right sock & what to look for...

The photos are brilliant, almost like a novel!

And you it shows you how to make the most wonderful critters!

To find the book online, click here.

Is this too loose?

It's cold down here in southern Tasmania.
My little bubs hands are always cold because he always has his arms in the air.
Solution... Arm warmers.

I spoke with mum (the worlds most experienced knitter) and she advised me to use a knitting needle 2 sizes bigger to cast on and to cast on around 20 stitches for his little arms. 
So I did. But look at it (above) is the actual knitting (rib stitch) too loose?  
Should I undo it and try again with different needle size to make it tighter?

In the post

Look what was in the post, awaiting my return (from a 5hour drive).

It is a Freyja's Rose French Press Cozy Knitting Kit from the Transient Homestead blog.
It's so awesome, it's a hand-drawn, hand-written knitting pattern on handmade paper with handmade buttons attached and hand-spun wool.

Awesome! Thanks Emily!
I've added it my list of things to knit!

Ebay'ed fabric

So yep........ I bid on more fabric & look what 99c got me!

I'm really liking this bidding thing. It's fun!

I got my swap brooch.... and I LOVE it!

Check out my brooch - from the Brooch Swap organised via FlowerPress.
Isn't it just awesome, turns out my swap partner is mega talented!

AND, Jennie also included something for my bubba.  (thankyou!!)

AND, it was sitting in my letterbox when bubba Joe & I arrived home after his immunisations and boy, did he appreciate his new toy... see......

A treat for myself!

I decided after the tough time I've been through lately,
that I'd buy myself a treat and by doing so, it's a treat for bubba Joe as well.

I bought some fabric online from Saffron Craig.

I now have this softie doggie panel 

and a stash of their fabric.

Yum!

And this is Joe 'helping me' whilst I was taking a photo - he took a photo of himself!

Yay, it's finished!

Woot Woot, I managed to finish something within weeks of starting it!

 Whatchya think of it?

Does it look ok?

Do you think my swap partner will like it or
at least appreciate all the blood, sweat & tears it took to finish it!

I started it 3 times, gave up 5 times, didn't think I'd manage to do it at all, I almost emailed FlowerPress to tell them that I couldn't meet my commitment to finishing it.

BUT I did it!  And like I said before... Woot Woot!!

Book find: Amigurumi Knits

  A great knit book, ready to be gifted to my mum!

There's garlic, carrots, peas, cucumbers and more to knit....

And insects, fish and creepy crawlies....

 I've put this fish on the I WANT list of things to make!

There are great photos to help you figure out the patterns - which is just awesome!

To find the book online click here.

In the post

Check out this cute little finger puppet that I received in the post.

It's made from needlefelting.....

...and very cute!

It was sent to me from MadebyMoxie

Sometimes it's hard.

That's it Rie. Breath in, breath out, breath in, breath out.
Are you having tough week?  I am.

Two relatives in the hospital and on one day last week, those two relatives were both in Intensive Care at the same time. Not nice. Not fun.
BUT... they are getting better - bit by bit, day by day.

BUT, my house isn't my house anymore, I have two additional relatives staying with me so they can visit their spouses in the hospital.  Which is ok. But I can't use the lounge in the morning cos one is sleeping in there. The toilet seat is always up now.  The shower has been over-run with other peoples products. There is way more washing up. I even said to one the other day... "I'm doing a load of laundry today so pop anything needing washing in the basket"... which then lead to two loads of laundry cos he didn't want his cream coloured trousers washed with the other stuff... patience.. just breathe....

And I yelled at bubba Joe the other day & made him cry. I didn't mean too. It was just stress building up. But I made him cry.  So that made me the worst mum in history. So that made me cry. Which made bubba Joe cry again. But then we layed in the sunbeam and everything was ok.  And he loves me. And I love him. And we went out to look at the trees and the birds and watched tv together. So that was ok.

And then I found these...

Which is good, so I can now put a pin on the brooch I am making.

And tomorrow will be good. I contacted the local knitting group & asked if I could join in. And I can. And I can take bubba Joe. So tomorrow we will be knitting in a cafe with a stranger! Fun. I'm looking forward to it.

How is your week? How do you deal with stress?  And seriously, do you separate colours when doing laundry... cos I don't. Well, I didn't. But apparently I have to know whilst I have visitors!