so maybe I got this the wrong way around

Apparently most people buy hairclips to match an outfit, not the other way around.

They obviously don't craft.

I bought these gorgeous little yoyo clips from Lottielulu quite some time ago, mainly because I love this Sis Boom print and had some of it in my stash. My plan was to make something special to match.

Finally.. FINALLY I got around to making something to go with the hairclips, my impetus was mainly that my poor little girl has had a growth spurt and most of her pants seem to have become a tad on the short side, and I really need to stop pulling them down so they sit on her hips to be long enough. *blush* So out came Lily's special fabric stash and we selected the Sis Boom fabric and decided a little matching top was in order. Very simple but very cute!!!

How sickeningly gorgeous is she in green!!!!

she is such a tripper sometimes

it seems I am suffering from toddler tripout of late. oh well, I guess that's what happens with toddlers, and I don't mean to bore the few readers I have with mindless dribble about a toddler but..

man, she trips me out sometimes....ironically I'm trying to type this on a keyboard that has had Snappy Jaws toothpaste smeared(brushed) all over it.

We went out for dinner tonight, a fantastic experience... i really enjoy going out for tea with Andy andLily. She's been out for dinner regularly since a newborn, and we've never turned it into an issue or pandered to that doctrine of can't do something because I have a baby/toddler/kids....bollocks. And I come from a family of a LOT of kids so know the experience of what you really can and can't do with kids.

Anyway, at the end of the meal, Lily wanders around the restaurant reading all the numbers on the table totally freaking out other patrons, "there's a ten, mummy", here's a five," and "ooh, a two" etc. Now this is all totally off her own bat, not initiated at all. She just loves reading numbers and has done so since she was just two. In fact, she could read the numbers from 1 to 9 (although used to get 6 and 9 mixed up) before she could actually count them. There's one counting book we'd read and she'd wait until you lifted the flap so she could read the numbers rather than count them by rote. LOL I'll never forget when she surprised mum totally a few months ago in a bakery in Colac when mum asked her, "what's this?" pointing to a table number, and she said "five"! PMSL

OK, brag over. I'm really not into bragging about my child's abilities, that's the teacher in me, after hearing so many parents overestimating their child's abilities, yes we all think our kids are brilliant, but only a minority are correct (BTW I don't think she is brilliant it's just her specific style of intelligence ;)) but it was just pretty funny to watch all these diners tripping about this pipsqueak two and a half year old reading table numbers.

And so to leave you here's a pic, taking my tips from Greenolive's Mixtape article in the second issue.

No relevance whatsoever, just mowing the lawn with daddy....note our beautiful lawnmower, that was an environmentally conscious purchase way back in 2001.

some previews for today

A little dress that I shall sneak up this afternoon some time as well as send this auction live. There will also be a few more clips going up.

Janie who runs the ozebaby site has also opened a special fundraising store here
It's such a heartbreaking story, and my heart really goes out to Hannah's parents. I'm adding my piece today, which is a pair of size 1 pants ~ this fabric is perfect as Hannah liked frogs and purple, both of which it has, there's even a little purple frog on the back pocket. We'll also be adding some purple clips.

Woolly goodness

I love buying stuff from other WAHPs, there are some really talented crafters and artisans out there making some really unique and beautiful products. And this is from one of my favourites, the super talented mumma Michelle from The Woolly Tree. I really love crochet, the fabric it creates has such a beautiful whimsical feel to it, it really appeals to me.

I realised the other day when I was attempting to crochet that not only do I crochet left handed but I think I wrap the wool the wrong way. Or maybe because I'm left handed I need to do everything in a mirror image... it got too complicated to think about , so I gave up !!

Much easier to buy beautiful stuff like this, that is perfectly crocheted.

It's just perfect for Lily, but how grown up does the little 2 and a half year old look!!!

I love how Michelle's crochet pieces are really unique and are really reflective of her style. Her work is very distinctive. Have a look at some of the other pieces she has created on her site.

Really, that's probably a good lesson for anyone wanting to start out in the WAHP world, develop your own style, create pieces that are distinctively yours and can't be mistaken for other's work; much more satisfying than mirroring or borrowing someone else's style. :)

Some backwards blogging

I have some backwards blogging to do, I have been remiss and not included images from previous stockings.. so for recordings sake am including some of my favourite pics here. I have some other blogging to catch up on too, as I have some other cool new images and stuff to share :D My aim is to accoomplish this over the weekend.

These are Asher's black hemp zip flares that his mummy hinted so badly for so long that she wanted. LOL

some overdue pics

of our recent trip to the bush block with the pint family.

Photo heavy post coming up but they are very cute kids!!!!

hmm, do I need to narrate? Maybe a little ....

so we spent a week in the recent school holidays at our family bush block, given the drought conditions gripping that part of Victoria we really weren't expecting the weather we got... a week of rain!!! It was fabulous, although it did limit our outdoor activities a little. we did get out when we could but there is definitely something special about sitting in front of a fire listening to the rain splashing down on a tin roof, and looking out on bush surroundings for as far as you can. You may have noticed from an earlier post I got quite a bit of knitting done due to the weather. Megsie made quite a few hairclips!!!

When we did get outdoors, kiddies decked out in the appropriate wet weather gear, they managed to find every puddle there was!

starting out small.....

working up to the bigger..

we took a walk up to an old beekeeper's shack on the back of the block, which Lily told us she didn't want to live in. The best friends

sharing yet another cute kiss

finding some bigger puddles

and indulging in a bit of rural gazing out to the Grampians

This is Lily's Pa's first wood mill, now resurrected as a train for the kiddies. They all climbed on and we pushed them up and down the five or so metres of track about a million times.

a wayward train carriage that Asher just couldn't get going

and some more puddles (just look at how much Tully is getting into it LOL)

Off on yet another walk for a few hours over to the other dam on the block

and to check out the native orchids, a bit special apparently

time for some indoor activities, bakking with Megsie.... choc chip cookies of course!

althoug I suspect more spoon licking went on than actual helping

At least Asher found somethng more appropriate for his mouth

And what's a trip to the bush without the obligatory perched on a rockface shot!

toddlers are the best!

I love toddlers, always have! Before we had kids I had this running joke with my mum that if we had kids she could look after them for the the first couple of years and then hand them back when they became fun at around two. I never could see what the fuss about little babies was until we had Lily; I mean they never really did anything interesting LOL Toddlers on the other hand are funny little things, great senses of humour, I love the way you can be having a seemingly normal conversation and they will just come out with something totally left field. They're so easy to lead astray and it is sort of funny the way they just can't control their behaviour at times.

Now I have a toddler of my own, and man is she a little character. Sometimes she is just so whack it's hilarious. She takes a great deal of amusement in farts, which would have made my dad chuckle no end. She is as cheeky as anything and when she gets going is a real chatterbox, she can even out talk her very verbose Uncle Tim!! Every day she comes out with something so ridiculously funny, I wish I could remember them all... some recent favourites that reinforce why toddlers are so fun...

Lily: Mummy, can you carry my dolly?

Me: Lily, you can carry it, honey.

Lily: No, Mummy you carry it.

Me: What do you think I am, your slave?

Lily: Mummy, are you daddy's slave?

I so felt like saying, Sometimes it feels like it.... but I resisted LOL

Lily is always trying to get someone to carry something for her, usually a bunch of her toys she is carting around. Usually when I ask her why she can't carry it her response is, "cos my arms are broken off."

Lily likes shops, not really sure why. She particularly likes shoe shops. She has turned the walk in robe in our bedroom into her shop form which she sells us our own shoes.

Last night I was in my sewing room, sewing strangely enough and in she walks with her "shopping bag". "Good day," says Lily and starts oohing and aahing over some fabric and then yarn. She selects some fabric from box of vintage fabric awaiting washing and a couple of hanks of yarns from a basket. "thanks for the wool and fabric, see you another day" she says and waltzes out to the loungeroom where she dumps it in the middle of the room.

"what are you doing?" asks Andy.

"Shopping in the wool shop," she says!!!

When she counts Lily usually forgets 5, she says, "1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8 , 9, 10" to which I usually say, "what happened to number 5? Did you lose it?" The other day she was counting and I heard "1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10" she then exclaims, "Mummy, I found number 5!!" very proud of herself.

the market thang

so I'm doing a market. I don't usually do markets for a number of reasons; mainly all the time you need to put in standing around and the amount of stock you need to have on hand. But this is a one off, for Lily's play group to raise some much needed funds for the lovely church group that run it at absolutely no cost to us.
I have to say I'm feeling a little daunted by the amount of sewing I still need to do *eek* I had these visions of me turning up with about five pieces of clothing to sell LOL Luckily Megsie has come to the rescue and whipped up some of her awesome hair clips while we were at the block. I'm planning on having a bit of everrything on hand. And to be honest, I'm not really sure how it will go, whether I'll really sell much at all. Whether the attendees will appreciate the difference between mass produced clothing (which by the way another stall there will be selling) and individually produced one-off items of clothing. I hope so....

Anyway for those that are interested in the local area

Mothers' Twilight Market
Friday 19th October 7pm
St Peter's Hall, Draper Street, Ocean Grove
(which is actually part of the church)

gold coin donation entry
supper available


Now back to my sewing !!!!

knitting, knitting, knitting

One of the pleasures of holiday time and driving somewhere is the knitting time. We have just spent a bit over a week up at the bush block near the Grampians; I'm saving that story and the pics for another post. The 3 hour trip there and back afforded me some knitting time which set off a little bit of a knitting frenzy, so here are some recent knitting WIPs and even a couple of finished projects :D

First, finally the other Rainy Day sock. This pair was started on the trip between Adelaide and home to see if it is possible to knit a sock in that trip. Nice comfy socks even if the colourway is totally wrong for the pattern LOL

Well, my Hedera has been frogged and reborn as the Fools Rush sock, not sure how apt that name is or not LOL It's a cute little pattern which works much better for this yarn.

I cast this on up at the block and have now completed about 50cm and waiting on more yarn, nearly a third of the way. I'm making two of these for my sister and I; wraps for the wedding reception. This is the Sublime muse pattern. (thanks Tania :D)

You've got to love a quick easy knit!! I've been wanting to knit these saartje booties for ages but there has been a real derth of girl bubs. Luckily my BIL's wife had a little bubba girl a week or so ago. These are for little Emily. I also whipped up a couple of double sided flannelette baby blankets for her.

I have another pair of booties half done in green and pink and luckily another pink bubba arrived in the family, little Kaylee.

And because I obviously don't have enough WIPs on the go as it is I cast on Lily's rainbow dress after the idea for how I wanted to do it came to me in flash a little dimmer than one of genius. this is the awesome Monster Knits gradient dyed rainbow yarn. I started Lily's dress ages ago but wasn't happy with it; version #2 I'm pretty sure is going to be a keeper. Now I need some more Knitpicks cables so I can transfer and finish it on something a little bigger than a 40cm circ.