it's all about the button today..

I'm not sure why it is I'm a button-sewer-oner avoider. I mean I like sewing, even hand sewing. And I LOVE buttons. Get that, LOVE!!! But sewing on buttons, I'm a bit nerr about.

The buttons here aren't sewn on yet..

Despite these buttons being Purchased last Monday. Why? Because I can't decide which colour I really do like best.

The orange.....





or the yellow







I'm a yellow kind of girl but I'm heavily leaning towards the orange. At least I was. What do you think?








This little baby jacket is the uber famous Baby Surprise Jacket by Eliabeth Zimmermann. I knit it because.

Basically, the BSJ is a must-knit pattern a bit like a must watch movie, like ummm, er... Star Wars? I dunno, I can't think of a must-watch movie but you get my drift. ooh, like for any lover of Australian literature Cloudstreet is a must read novel.

Elizabeth Zimmermann is this very famous knitty lady, who wrote a stack of newsletters and a number of books that really explode knitting construction in a revolutionary way. She is much loved by those like me in the seamless knitting fraternity.






One of EZ's most fabulous books is The Knitter's Almanac which is like a calendar of knitting projects, with one for each month of the year. There has been a bit of chatter at my Monday night group about knitting through the Almanac this year, but the general consensus was that we weren't that keen on January's project, an aran jumper. Secretly, I think we all just want to knit the February Baby Sweater because I'm guessing we're not going to be that keen on March's 'Difficult Sweater'.

I think I'll just create my own calendar of EZ knits for the year and aim to knock one off per month, so January's is the BSJ.

Not sure were this little jacket is headed, I though tit might be ok for Otis but I suspect it's going to be too small.

Know any babies who are kinda small and keen on technicolour coats?


P.S. I forgot to mention that the BSJ pattern is not in the Almanac. It can be found in Knitting Workshop or The Opinionated Knitter. You can also get a more thorough version from Schoolhouse Press.

The yarn is Noro Koreyun sock.



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creative space

I'm attempting to lose myself in a little distractive crafting today. This is possibly not helped by the fact that I left my knitting bag in our car, which Andy drove to Melbourne today.

Nor is it helped by the fact that my once glorious (perhaps a tad over-exaggerated) craft room now looks like this:








yep, it's become a boy's room.
Which I must say was FUN FUN FUN to set up!!!

But that meant all my craft stuff had to go somewhere... to the studio.
All my yarn and most of my fabric is now exceptionally well organized, if not a little out of my reach.




The idea seemed great at the time, but later when I realised I will actually probably need Andy to get down any of those boxes, it dawned on me that impromptu cast ons in the middle of the day are now going to be a thing of the past.

So up there we have fabric, yarn and patterns. There is a tub of my girly cottons down lower, as well as my roll of organic denim in my wardrobe and a wicker basket in Toby's room still with cords, stretch and other fabrics.

Eventually, a part of the studio will be mine, all mine. Until then, everything is packed awaiting the move out there.

My favourite little crafty space in the house today though is this one:




Who needs a play tent when you can make your own out of a piece of old tent?
It's hooked up to the guitar stand, my wooden bucket and an upright lamp. Ingenious!!!

more spaces over at kootoyoo


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the winners......

thanks to everyone who entered our pikki tint giveaway. Megsie from pint and I would like to thanks those people who chose to enter our raffle/giveaway out of all those hundreds out there, particularly as ours was rather late to the party.  Together we raised $95 from these two giveaways.

Without further ado, the winnners are............

Giveaway #1: (Alien duds)  Pipee!

and

Giveaway #2: (Pixie duds)  Angelskies!


Congratulations Pipee and Amy!!!!
If you could both email me a copy of your receipt and your address I shall get your winnings out in the mail ASAP!

my email addy is: tikkijane@gmail.com

Apologies for not drawing this yesterday as arranged. Yesterday was a very draining and emotional day. I spent it in the Alfred Hospital Intensive Care Unit Waiting Room. My Mother-in-law has had a car accident, so we spent the day waiting to get to see her.  Keep her in your prayers and send her any spare healing vibes you can, she has a long road to recovery ahead of her.

Giveaway Two (Pixie duds)

The winner of this giveaway will win a very delightful little pair of duds, a unique OOAK pikki tint collaboration!

The pants are cut from a beautiful certified organic denim, that is soo soft and glorious. It continues to soften on washing and is the ONLY denim I will work with now.  They are designed to be quite a loose fit and easily fit over any cloth nappy.

They have been handpainted by Megsie from pint with one of her adorable little pixies in high quality textile paint.  You may have seen these cute little pixie in softie form before. There are even a few people out there who are lucky enough to have pixie pinnies or t-shirts. But this is the first time a pixie has graced a pair of shorts. So these are very special indeed!

The pants feature two back pockets cut from a gorgeous green and pink quilters cotton from Patty Young's Mezzanine range.  The pockets have also been fully interfaced for additional strength.  The shorts are triple stitched through the crotch area for extra durability and have an adjustable waist. The hemline of the duds have been finished with cute yellow binding.

The sizing fits a wide size range.

These are cut to my standard size one short pattern, but feature a longer length leg.  They will fit from about 6-9 months as baggy pants, through to a size 1 and 2 as 3/4 length pants right through to the toilet trained young child as long shorts.
Lily is an average sized five-year old (thanks to a bit of growth the last month or so!!! yep, regular readers that chest has finally expanded!!! ) and she is at the top range of the fitting for these with just a little bit of room left in them.

They will fit for a long long time!!!

Measurements
Waist: adjustable
Hips: 70cm/27.5"
Rise: 46cm/18"
Inner leg length: 21cm/8"

To enter this giveaway:
* You must make a unique donation of $5 to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal
What's a unique donation? One that you make specifically for this giveaway. You cannot have used the donation to enter any other giveaway or raffle! Does that make sense?

* After you've made your donation pop back here and leave your receipt number with your comment.

* You can enter as many times as you like, but each entry must be accompanied by a separate receipt number.  Please be honest.

* The winner will be drawn on Wednesday January 26th. The winner will need to be able email me their receipt of donation as proof of donation.

* I will post out the shorts to the winner free of charge anywhere. So all you international peeps, that gives you a chance to win and enter (I'm looking at you NZ gals!!!)

PLEASE NOTE: This giveaway is for the pixie shorts only.
The pixie softie is Lily's and she is her bedtime companion.

To check out more auctions and raffles pop over to Toni's blog and check out the MEEEEGAAAA list!

Giveaway One (Alien duds)

The winner of this giveaway will win a very delightful little pair of duds, a unique OOAK pikki tint collaboration!

The pantts are cut from a beautiful certified organic denim, that is soo soft and glorious. It continues to soften on washing and is the ONLY denim I will work with now.  They are designed to be quite a loose fit and easily fit over any cloth nappy (Toby is wearing a Very Baby AIO underneath here).

They have been handpainted by Megsie from pint with one of her adorable little aliens in high quality textile paint.  You may have seen these cute little aliens in softie form before, but this is the first one to grace an item of clothing!!! So these are super special.

The pants feature three pockets cut from a Japanese cotton called 'Retro Spot'. This is a lovely thick and robust cotton with spots of green and brown. The green matches the alien in colour exactly!! (the colour in the photos is not quite accurate) The pockets have also been fully interfaced for additional strength.  The shorts are triple stitched through the crotch area for extra durability and have an adjustable waist.

The sizing fits a wide size range.

These are cut to my standard size one short pattern, but feature a longer length leg.  They will fit from about 6-9 months as baggy pants, through to a size 1 and 2 as 3/4 length pants right through to the toilet trained young child as long shorts.
Toby is an average sized two-year old and as you can see there is still plenty of room in these for growth.

They will fit for a long long time!!!

Measurements
Waist: adjustable
Hips: 70cm/27.5"
Rise: 46cm/18"
Inner leg length: 18cm/7"

To enter this giveaway:
* You must make a unique donation of $5 to the Queensland Flood Relief Appeal
What's a unique donation? One that you make specifically for this giveaway. You cannot have used the donation to enter any other giveaway or raffle! Does that make sense?

* After you've made your donation pop back here and leave your receipt number with your comment.

* You can enter as many times as you like, but each entry must be accompanied by a separate receipt number.  Please be honest.

* The winner will be drawn on Wednesday January 26th. The winner will need to be able email me their receipt of donation as proof of donation.

* I will post out the shorts to the winner free of charge anywhere. So all you international peeps, that gives you a chance to win and enter (I'm looking at you NZ gals!!!)

PLEASE NOTE: This giveaway is for the alien shorts only.
The alien softie is Toby's and he ain't giving that one up!!!!

To check out more auctions and raffles pop over to Toni's blog and check out the MEEEEGAAAA list!

a giveaway or two...

My lovely sis Megsie from pint was staying with me when the first news of the devastation that swept through Toowoomba and surrounding areas emerged.  We knew we had to do something to help raise some funds, like we did with the Victorian Bushfires of 2009.  When we found Toni's wonderful post co-ordinating a whole heap of auctions and fundraising, we knew we had to be in on it.  I sent Megsie back home last Tuesday (5 hour drive) with a couple of organic denim cuts.

They returned to me this week  after she applied her awesome talent to them and this is what they've transformed into.

These are definitely One-of-a-Kind shorts!!!

You know, I'd be quite happy to keep them for my kiddies but...  I promised.
Lily has already put her hand up for some mermaid ones though (hint hint Megsie, there will be some more cuts in the mail to you if your kids want to put their orders in!)

Originally we were going to auction them off, but we love Jodie from RicRac's raffle/giveaway idea so much we're doing what so many other crafty bloggers are doing, and borrowing it!

so here we go, two giveaways, same rules apply. Two posts to make it clearer and easier to follow.
i'll post rules in both giveaway posts so it's easier to follow.

giveaway posts to follow.....

and yep, they will be photo heavy
bwahahahahaha!!!!

in times like these.

I love the blogging and online craft community.
Don't get me wrong, I always love them. But it's in times of hardship, devastation and sheer gut-wrenching hearbreaking times like those in our north face, that the blogging and craft community really come together to show just why they are considered that; a community.
If you haven't already seen it yet pop over to Toni's  (of Make it Perfect fame) blog and check out the auctions to raise much needed funds for the Queensland Flood Relief Fund that she is co-ordinating.

And there's plenty more of this happening around the traps:Check out Possum Pouchesand handmade kidsand bris style handmade ark appealjust to name a few!
Like most Australians I've been totally shocked. No that just doesn't seem the right word, somehow. It's not just shocking, it's gut-wrenching sadness.  It's a disbelief.  It's a helplessness.
I've lived in an area where we experienced flood, flood of mammoth proportions. Roadhouses were swallowed by what seemed like once non-existant rivers that became torrents. Rivers appeared and completely surrounded our town and cut it off by road. Huge huge volumes of water were dumped.
But it seems like nothing compared to what we're seeing in Queensland. The sheer volume and devastation is just unprecedented.  What happened in Toowoomba and Grantham I think has changed the way Australians will view the threat of floods forever; just in the same way that the the bushfires that occurred on February 7th 2009 in Victoria changed forever our approach to bushfires.  In both tragic events, there's been a total sense of disbelief at the sheer force and devastation nature can create. 
And then to watch the waters threaten and then engulf the capital city, Brisbane!  Heartbreaking... and just so totally unbelievable.
As a knitter my heart was breaking as I learnt that one of the best yarn stores in Australia faced flooding, Tangled Yarns.  I felt so totally devastated for Kelly as she shared photos of the rising waters, the exhaustion she was feeling so clearly evident.

and so with all this in mind, my humble offering to help raise some money for the Queensland Flood Relief Fund...

two patterns; Sorello and Fratello.
All proceeds from the sales of these two new patterns until the end of January will be donated to the Queensland Flood Relief Fund. 
Both are seamless and topdown and sizes 6months to 10 years.
I've knit both my prototypes in organic 8ply wool, but some of the knitters in the MKAL used cotton successfully.They're both great little transeasonal garments.  These were the patterns from the MKAL I held in November. I've had so many request and queries about the patterns being released. I thought this was a good way to do it and help raise a little bit of funds.  
My favourite part of these patterns is without a doubt the feature on the back of the Sorello:

both cost a meagre $5 eachand you can purchase them via my Ravelry store or here
Fratello 


Sorello


If you wish to pya via direct debit and have an Australian bank account, email me at tikkijane@gmail.com and I'll send you the details.

While you're at it pop over to my sister's blog pints palette and enter her fantastic little giveaway to also raise some money... and keep your eye's peeled for a couple of super dooper collaborations we are cooking up..

the eco challenge

Every year our little family sets ourself an eco challenge. The idea is to change an aspect of our life so that it's more environmental. The aim; to break patterns of behaviour that we're accustomed to, that have become habits, and that are at odds with our environmental ideals.




So yep, basically the aim is to break bad habits.

The year before last, I challenged myself to not drive the car in the town we live in. While we do live in a fairly small seaside town, it does take 45 minutes to walk to the main part of town from our house. We used the bus as much as we could, although the bus only comes every couple of hours or so. Andy even got into the act and rode his bike to work more regularly, which is about a 25km trip one way.

Last year, we challenged ourself to not buy any clothes for the entire year. Not even secondhand. So no clothing for two adults, a five year old and a toddling boy.

The first couple of months were the hardest but to be honest, once the shopping pattern was broken, it really was very very easy. And you know what? We survived no worries.

We did benefit from hand-me-downs from cousins, which was particularly helpful for the little lad. And my aim was simply to make what we needed. The reality was that we didn't need that much really. The kids needed pants and jumpers, but beyond that we survived no worries. I even found that I didn't need to make as much as I thought I would. Clothes really do fit kids for a lot longer than just the year the number on the label corresponds to their age. (I say that in jest, simply because I do know people who change their kids' wardrobes over to the next number up each year regardless.) Lily's favourite pair of shorts are a size 1.




This year our focus is on food sustainability. Lily has even started contributing her thoughts to the eco-challenge and helped come up with the focus for 2011. She wants to reduce our use of packaged food, which in itself isn't a great deal, but I love that she is involved.

We eat mostly organic, and do benefit from an organic veggie box delivered every Monday. So we do tend already to focus on eating what's in season, and fairly healthy. We're hoping to increase the productivity of our veggie garden over the course of the year as well as make much more food from scratch. We've been baking bread every day so far, which is great fun! This afternoon I'm hoping to get some fruit loaf happening; with organic raisins, cranberries and goji berries.

I also need to find a recipe to replace those delicious Carmen's muesli bars that Lily loves so very much.
Any suggestions?




One of the benefits of a deliberate eco focus for each year has been Lily's increasing understanding of green issues and concern for the environment. She is very disturbed by rubbish (which she refers to as tinseling) and will pick up rubbish if she sees it.

I love that our no clothes buying has taught her about other aspects of creativity too. Recently she made a couple of games that were based on some of her favourites from kindy. She showed me and said, "Look Mum, you don't always need to buy toys, you can make them sometimes too." then she looked a bit concerned, "But that doesn't mean we should go a year without buying toys though, okay."

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and now for something completely different

In my post holiday unpacking and cleaning avoidance I've been indulging in a little bit of blog surfing. Oh how I love a good crafty blog... I really think crafty blogs are the besets thing on the www. They're interesting, inspirational and, well...., you probably know all that.

Anyways, the point I'm getting to was that surfing around I noticed a common theme to the knitting blogs I read the most; the end of year yardage tallies and the
planned knits for 2011. So because I'm still avoiding some of the at unpacking and cleaning I thought I would indulge you with my yardage and to knit list.






Yardage knit for 2010:
18, 411 yards (that's nearly 17kms)
or in garment terms, 60 garments!
And you know what? With the exception of a short sleeved cardigan, three scarves, two beanies and a tea cosy; everything else was a kids knit.

hmmm.....

so with that in mind my to knit list for 2011 is going to be a little indulgent, a little selfish and a little bit about ME!

(well, as much as knitting from stash will allow it [yes, yes, I'm pretending that I'm attempting to knit from stash again this year... the joke's on me..yes, I know])

hmm, so what would I like to knit for ME? Browsing my Rav queue elicits these suggestions:

1. Whisper Cardigan by Hannah Fettig.
I've wanted to knit this cardigan EVER since it came out. I even have the yarn to do so, some lovely Knittery Merino Lace.... it's just the prospect of balling over 1000 yards of lace weight yarn is a little daunting!!!

2. Kerrera by Gudrun Johnston
Another Cardigan I've had in my queue forever and also have the yarn for. I'm going to knit this in WOOLganics worsted. Just have to decide on the colour; Gondwana or Sangha. Hmm, perhaps the Gondwana and then I could use the Sangha for Gudrun's Shaldar

3. a new winter hat, something slouchy and comfy. maybe Rose Red or ripely.

4. some mitts, not really sure on contenders yet.
Any suggestions?

5. A little red cardigan; possibly lacy suitable for layering as well as over sundresses. maybe liesl

on the not so selfish front to the list needs to be added:

6. a school cardigan for Lily (Can't stand those horrible fading navy windcheater things that pass for school wear) Just need to find some navy organic yarn?? any suggestions??

7. A couple of skirt designs I'm already itching to get started on.

8. A couple of tops that ditto, I want to whip into shape.

9. Design my first adult garment. I have two contenders here.

10. A beautiful pair of embellished longies with chart from watermellish for Toby. His last pair of longs probably!

and that is it.

i'm sure there will be plenty more.

I wonder if I can crack the 20 000 yard mark.
And just how many garments I'll get made in 2011.

What's on your to knit list?


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a little festive break

I'm not sure how it happened but I seemed to have had a little break for a good part of the festive season... and some more.
I guess because I was doing Christmas pressie knitting, I didn't have so much to share.

Did you have a good Christmas?
Ours was.
Happy times with family and friends.

The kids had their first Christmas morning in their own home, which was very special for them. It really made us feel like we were proper grown-ups seeing our little ones open their Christmas presents under our own tree in our own home.





Today we're back from our holidays over Christmas and New Year.
It's been a busy time with lots of time spent on the road. Back and forth, from here to there and everywhere. We're all a little tuckered out now and definitely ready for some cosy nights in our own beds.




I hope you are all enjoying a lovely start to the new year.

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Location:a little festive break