At my house

The frogs are flourishing in our garden, each night their chorus of chirps reminds me that we are doing good in our garden. It is a good place for the native wildlife, despite the rainbow girl's despair at the lack of roses.




The big reds are showing off big time




The native limes are looking profusely promising.




And the little Milo boy is playing trains yet again. today the train has passengers, he climbed atop my sewing desk to steal my Addi needle tip protectors.



I did some last minute sewing for Lily's school orientation day tomorrow. Apparently Gwyneth needed a school dress to wear to the Teddy Bear picnic.




And I wore my new red shoes for the first time.

What's happening at your gaff?

Play along over at Lou lou's

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just in time for Summer

a couple of posts back I mentioned the acacia pattern and its release. I also mentioned it was part of an e-book which included two other patterns.

Today I am ever so happy that I have finished and added the final pattern to the Spring Wildflowers e-book!! Yippeee!!!

So now along with the acacia the two other patterns in there are:


baby acacia


This is the baby version of the acacia singlet written for 4ply/fingering weight yarns.  It comes in sizes newborn to 24 months and is just as deliciously cute and simple to knit as the 8ply version. If you're lucky enough to have a child that fits in the 19 - 21 inch chest range, this means that you can choose to knit acacia in either 4ply for super summery coolness or an 8ply.  I've done both for my Lily.  It is equally cool and summery in either wool or cotton.

Again, it has two options for the body; the plain stocking stitch and the fully gathered option. There are also the two hem options. You can see a photo of the i-cord hemline on the orange acacia a bit further down.

The photo below shows the small and big end of the range, the orange one is the 3 month size knit in Shepherd Baby Wool 4ply. The mint one is the 24 month size (actually knit to a 5 year length but artfully concealed for the photo ;) ) knit in Bendigo Woollen Mills cotton 4ply in the very popular honeydew colourway.  Mmm, my testers for this e-book loved this colourway. There are quite a few versions in it!

darwinia


This pattern also has two options for knitting. Yes, I do like my options!

Firstly, there is the babydoll version:

which is sort of longer tunic length. On toddlers, it does tend to finish at short dress length, those nappy bums and all that.  I love how the ribbon just finishes off the empire waist bodice!!

There's also the dress option:

A high-waisted a-line style dress.

This is currently the favourite knitted item in Lily's wardrobe. She loves it!

I love the ruffled hem that finishes off both styles.

I am so glad to finally have this pattern finished and out there. It has been a long long time coming!
As always, thanks to all the wonderful wonderful ladies who helped out with the testing of these patterns.  They all produced such gorgeous finished garments and were a delight to work with!


the purchasing options:


The patterns come in pdf format. When you purchase a download link is emailed to you immediately. If you're on Ravelry, the pattern will also add to your library.

They're all colour coded for sizes and are written in a clear and concise manner. These patterns are easy to follow,  and result in a quick knit.

The buynow option takes you to a paypal checkout, which is also compatible with credit cards.
If you wish to purchase by direct deposit you will need to have an Australian bank account, or the ability to deposit into one.  You can email me on tikkijane@gmail.com and I can arrange a direct deposit for you.

Each pattern is $6 individually, or $10 for all three! Bargain!

baby acacia $6


darwinia $6


Spring Wildflowers $10 for the three patterns.

and so it begins...

I think I have had too much going on in my life these last few months, so much so that I have officially declared myself on holidays. No matter how desperate a new design playing in my head wants to be knit, it's not getting out. It can be sketched but December is crazy enough as it is without committing myself to new designs or test knits. I still have the finishing touches to put on Darwinia.  So new pattern ideas, listen up! Stay put for just a while longer, please. I'll let you out after the festive season is over. Please play nicely for me.

December is for Christmas crafting. I'm trying ever so hard to create quite a few of my Christmas presents this year. I have a list of what I want to achieve, I'd love to make something for everyone on my Christmas list, but you know, I have a big big big family, and that ain't going to happen.  So far I have two pressies done; one knit, one sewn. Two from two days, so going well and tonight I've started knitting the third in some gorgeous Sublime Soya Cotton dk.

I've been on a challenge this year to buy no clothes at all; neither new or secondhand. Yes, it has been hard at times, but we're nearly there. Usually, the kiddies have new clothes in their Santa sacks, so this year I'm going to have to make them some. My plans are for some dresses and skirts for Lily, some shorts and appliqued t-shirts for Toby (he has a few plain fair trade organic ones in his wardrobe he hasn't worn much as they're so plain that could do with some jazzying up).  They may even score some new knits.  Keeping this secret from Lily is the hard part, Toby is totally oblivious to it all, but Lily doesn't miss a thing.  She noticed the empty package in my sewing room with the belle and boo tape on it. She noticed the red riding hood fabric next to the machine. She noticed me sewing with my organic denim today, so ducked off to put on a pair of her old shorts, as if to say, "yep, I do wear them, Mum! Make me some more!"

Man, she even noticed the subliminal advertising Safeway snuck into their Christmas colouring competition (I love that she coloured Santa's beard brown because white doesn't show on white and Toby artfully snipped around the outside of his picture). By the way, never try to have a discussion about the negatives of colouring in and colouring competitions with a Check Out Operator... let's not go there ;)

Unfortunately, I can't show you photos here of the Christmas pressies, as while the recipients don't read this blog (well, they can't actually read you know) Mums do.  I could ask those mums to look away, but you know, I know them well enough to know that they won't.  They're curious types, a bit like me really. Funny that, being sisters and all.

Are you planning many handmade Christmas pressies?
What are you planning on creating?

ok, off to Christmas knit, the photos I'm leaving you with today are of my new acacia pattern knit in wool (WOOLganics of course, Lotus colourway). While the pattern is designed for cotton is does work beautifully in wool as well.  This will make a great vest for most seasons of the year, it looks awesome under a tshirt.