Moving Home

 Ashley our eldest son and his wife Nicole moved from there rental home to there newly purchased home. All our family rallied around to help them. My father drove the rental truck. Wayne loaded our trailer with the breakable boxed stuff. I was not much help but I supervised and ordered the pizza lunch.

 Ashley and Nicole just before we started bringing stuff into there new home.

 Late at night. they are so tired they can't move.

Boxes waiting for someone to empty them !!!!

The new home is lovely. They have brought a great family home.  

Family of Hand spinners

This photo was taken at a spinners and weavers retreat.

From the left My niece Helena, my cousin Sain, My mum Pam and thats me on the end.

I have to use my wheel chair which I hate but its better than staying home. I am work shop coordinator again this year. I am still looking for teachers who don't charge to much, anyone interested :)

we have workshops in the mornings and then the afternoon is for doing your own thing. On Wednesday night  we have a wine tasting because our retreat is held in the wine district of S.A.  

Beaded needle case

 Base beaded in a strip pattern.

 the wording is completed. Looking good !

 I didn't have the right colour with me but its easy to change the colour's. 

Well on the way to the top of this case. 

I am using Delic beads for the first time. I asked on one of my beading groups which beads are the best , all the responses said delica were the best. I brought some of the net and I am very happy with the way these beads sit, very neat all the same size. I was able to get a few more colour's on our way home. They were a bit costly but they are worth it. I brought 3 gram packets at $2.99 a packet, I don't really know if that was more or less that the usual price.

Fishing Hoilday

We are back from our fishing adventure.

 Above is our car with the boat attached ready for the trip to Cowell, on the Eyre peninsula S.A

We had a slow trip because of the boat also we could not get the keys to the cottage we rented until after 4pm.

 Here is the three bedroom cottage we had rented for the week. The amenities were good but I think cream carpet through out was a mistake for a beach rental. The front verander  was great to sit under in the mornings, knitting or just to read a book under.The back had a pergola which was lovely most afternoons. 

Here are five blue swimmer crabs waiting to be cooked and then eaten. Yum !  

 40 crabs were cooked and pickled over the week.We could have had a lot  more but they take a lot of work to get them out of there shells and into the jars.

 Above are the three fished men after a long day on the ocean, Wayne is on the left then his brother Gary in the middle  and  John there father on the right. Its not hard to see they are related 

 Fridays catch , they caught a variety of species, snapper, tommies , whiting and flounder  

We had Aussie BBQ's most nights . Wayne's other brother Rodney and his father are cooking here.

We all had a great break and I got a lot of knitting of the cardigan I am knitting for a friend's husband. I did get a bit of beading done as well because you can't knit all the time. I also visited my cousin who is an oyster farmer in Cowell it was get to see how much his family have grown in the last year.

Needle case

needle case

Free Pattern

Free Patterns

Another heart pattern

I am away on a fishing trip with my husband's family but thought I would post 

this pattern so you all don't forget me.

Fishing trip

Wayne's family are meeting up here at about 11 am today. His two brothers and there wives as well as his mother and father, we have rented a cottage in Cowell which is about 180 km south from Port Augusta , The fishing is usually quite good. We are taking our boat and one of his brothers has his boat , so guys who want to fish every day are able to all go. I am not able to get up and in our boat since my back injury. Wayne's mum and I plan on getting lots of craft work done over the next 7 days. One sister in law knits a bit  so she will join in , but the other one is a real fisher person and will be out with the boys every day. I really hope they catch a few fish. Though the chances are not good the tides are wrong the weather is not the best according to the boys all ready, so the reasons for no fish have started before we even leave home !

  

As you can see Cowell harbor named Franklin harbor is sheltered from the open ocean.  

Crocodile Stitch

Crocodile Stitch

Yesterday while looking at patterns on Ravelry I can across a shawl crocheted in this wonderful loopy looking stitch so I went to the buy section on Ravelry and it took me to the etsy page for the seller. Once there I found she had a special if you brought two patterns it was only $8 dollars. I had to register   because I have never brought anything from etsy but now I can even start my own shop when I get good enough. So I used Paypal and with in about an hour I had the two patterns in my inbox. I had to give it a go right away and here is my first attempt. I just love how it looks and it will be so warm.here is the link so you can see the other things she has made using the same stitch. http://www.etsy.com/shop/bonitapatterns

Wall hanging

I have not had much time to get this wall hanging much further in the last few weeks. I have been tacking the hexagons to there papers at quilting on Mondays and Thursdays. I could not take my crocheting to quilting because it was to big and not really quilting at all. The wall hanging is coming on holidays with us next week because its so easy to transport. I am very happy with the look of it so far. I have not show anyone who will be attending the exhibition the completed wall hanging .They all think I am mad for making a quilt out of 1/2 inch pieces. I hope the ladies at our guild will be surprised at the finished entry.   

Free pattern

Heart Bracelet

I hope you enjoy my latest free chart

Table cloth

The fantastic table cloth is finished and Looks huge on my table. I am so happy with it and only 6 weeks of hard work to get it finished ! 

 I don't think I want to do this sort of work all the time. I was even dreaming about crocheting it. I just hope my aunt loves is as much as I do. The butterfly's around the bottom edge are great ,Really finishes off the whole pattern .Now we can go to Cowell for our holiday and I don't have to worry not getting this finished.  

Bead Bracelet

Wide Bargello cuff

This Cuff / Bracelet is a nice wide one that can be made to the length you want.

enjoy !

Beading

Bargello Cuff

Here is another free pattern to keep you beading

Son's Art work

My son Lindsey is having another go at his art work. He has not been up to much for the last year or so but he still has the skill to do very intricate pen and ink drawings. 

Slippers

Homespun Yarn knitted into lovely warm slippers, This book has some fantastic patterns for the whole family.

My mother's knitting

 Mobius scarf -spun alpaca syringe dyed using landscape dyes, four colours kingfisher, Plum , clematis, and kangaroo paw.

jumper started at shoulder and worked in the round, knitted from homespun dyed yarn. Pot dyed using clematis landscape dyes.  

Modular vest made from left over yarn from jumper and syringe dyed alpaca strips.

Mum did all this knitting while traveling from Adelaide to Perth at Christmas time. they were visiting my brother and his family.

Sorry

I just want to say sorry for not posting much of my craft work. I have been busy trying to get this table cloth completed for my Aunt. I have reached to outer edge's. Its looking lovely and I only have a few rounds to go. I look at the pattern and see only half a dozen rounds but its so far around I am unable to get one round in a day.  

Mum's dyed Yarn

 Mum pot dyed the above yarn . the Pink/red and blue were mixed well in the dye pot but the green was placed into the pot and then the news came on the TV to say there had been an earthquake in Christchurch new Zealand and mum forgot her dye for 15 minutes. when she removed the green it was mottled, a lovely effect. I don't think she will be able to reproduce it. green was Daintree, was two thirds kangaroo paw one third plum. the blue is kingfished     

This lovely yarn was syringe dyed in hanks. all of the yarn on this page were cream commercial yarn. Mum is going to knit slippers for all this yarn for sale at the hills spinners and weavers open day.  

Mum's latest spinning

I visited my mother this weekend. She is very busy with her spinning. she has collected the above fibres for her next project. Alpaca , camel down and natural silk Tussah unbleached. It will be interesting to see what the end produce will be like.Knowing my mum it will be very fine and lace like.

March free patterns

Left Over Beads pen

Free Pattern for march is a pen using up your left  over beads from other projects. I have written this pattern using bead tool 4 and it saves patterns in pdf format. I have a link below to my Google Doc files . Click on the link and it should take you to the pattern. I hope you enjoy this months pattern. As usual any problems just email me and I will try and help you.

Click here for --------- Left Over Pen