Red Riding Hood Yarns Raffle

A little while ago I shared a photo of the two patterns I designed for the Red Riding Hood Yarns Winter Yarn Club. I didn't go into any detail, well, because that would be just mean to tell you all about these new patterns and then say, "Oh, by the way... you can't get your hands on them until March 2013!" I'd just feel like a right meanie telling you that.

But, thanks to Hannah from RRHY you CAN get your hands on  a copy of the patterns! 

She's running two raffles at the moment; each with a package of goodies from the yarn club. There's a package of the girl patterns with some goodies and a package of the boy patterns with some of the goodies.  Goodies include buttons, yarn from the month I did, stitch markers and a project bag.  

If you're on Ravelry you might have seen my two new patterns. I've had LOADS of people interested in, particularly, the release of the girl's pattern.

All money rasied from Hannah's raffle will go to the Kia Ora Children's Learning Centre in Nairobi. I think I'm right in saying that Hannah's aunt is the driving force behind this school.

For more details on the raffle and to see the prize packs pop on over to Hannah's FB page, Red Riding Hood Yarns.

Tickets are $2.50 each  and to enter all you need to do is email Hannah at redridinghood@hotmail.co.nz.   

The raffle will be drawn Wednesday night, October 17th at 8pm.

 (that will be NZ time folks!!! so do the math ;) )

And because it doesn't feel so much like a meanie, I'm sharing a couple of pics of my patterns!

The girl's cardie pattern is called Granny's Favourite and can be knit to bolero, dress or regular length with three sleeve length options.

And this cheeky monkey is wearing a 'What Big Eyes You Have!' vest with a fun saddle shoulder construction.

Both patterns are sized from 15 to 30 inch chest sizes, so will fit approximately a newborn to a child size 12.

And while I'm banging on about Hannah, I should also mention she's hosting a KAL in her Ravelry group.  To join in you knit to knit one of the club patterns, and post a picture by the end of October. 

Would it be cheating to enter my samples? yes, perhaps so!! Luckily I've also knit three pairs of mittens and cast off a wee Granny's favourite cardie a few nights ago in glorious RRHY.

What have you been crafting on this fine Saturday night?

I've been sewing in ends in three projects and working the crochet hook.

We started moving back into our house today, it's like moving into a new house....sort of, except for the crazy mess in the rooms that we kept all our stuff in, like the kids' room!!

tobias

Once upon a time when I was a conscientious blogger (which reminds me of a tip I read the other day, to never apologise for not blogging, as your readers don't necessarily notice your absence until you point it out) ~ ~

I used to blog every new pattern release diligently. It was part of the process of the release. I think as part of my Blogtober pledge (which I sort of just made up, but let's go with it ~ a pledge of good habits to continue forthwith from Blogtober) I will return to this good habit.

I enjoy reading back over these pattern release entries as it often reminds me what was going on in my life at the time, and where the design idea came from; sometimes certain patterns have a special story.  This sort of detail just doesn't make it to the Ravelry pattern pages.

My pattern today, is one that does have such a story.

It's a story of perseverance and life just plain getting in the way.

So much time passed in the process of the development of this pattern, that I had to reknit the prototype for new photos.

Gosh, I adore this photo of Toby above. Even with his crazy kiddie dreadlocks.

Tobias was inspired by a visit to Tasmania and leprechauns. Sounds rather strange and a bit weird, as really leprechauns have nothing to do with Tasmania whatsoever. But I was in Tassie when I first started knitting this cardie for Toby. The original one was green, in one of my favourite WOOLganics colours, Gondwana.

So why was I inspired by leprechauns? Toby, with his cheeky grin, his incredible mischievous manner and innate ability to charm the pants off anyone, really reminds me of a leprechaun at times. Even his impish little chin and funny mannerisms are a bit not of this world.   When the time came to knit Tobes a new cardie, I somehow just knew I had to knit something that I felt a leprechaun would wear.

See how the high belt mimics that of a leprechaun? Go on, look closely. I'm sure I'm not the only one that sees it.

Along the way there were many crazy things that involved ripping and reknitting, and just mental over-busy over-committing life stuff that have meant Tobias somehow got relegated in the pattern release queue.

This winter I decided it NEEDED to be done, I HAD to do it. Before it was three years since I first began knitting it.

I didn't quite make that deadline. Surprise! Surprise!

It's out there now, and hopefully somebody will enjoy knitting this as much as I did. And their little boy will look as cute in it as mine does. This gorgeous orange, by the way, also comes from the WOOLganics range. It is Sangha.  How I love this yarn, and how much I am mourning their break. I do so hope they come back and continue to produce the best organic yarn there is.

Pattern details and the little clicky button to purchase this pattern can be found here.

P.S. I'm blogging everyday for BlogtoberFest. Help me feel the love and keep on blogging to the end! I will be so proud of myself if I make it. This will be my third attempt!

My creative space

So blogtober,hey?
who actually thought I would have made it thus far?
Can you believe it!

As I'm slowly getting my blog mojo back, I thought it was time to look up a few of the old blog linky things I used to enjoy. Excuse, my lack of precise language. It is late and it seems my command of the English language has desserted me.

I've always love my creative space, I still wander around and check them out. I suspect it's time I got back on that horse.

This week my creative space has been invaded by the builders and their aftermath, and finally the painter. YAY! once he's finished I can move all out stuff back to its rightful home.

I found the experience of looking at your living space with all the furniture pushed to the centre quite surreal. In my mind I have been constantly reorganizing and redecorating this area. This evening I made DK help me move all the lounge room furniture into a different configuration. I like it. I really like it! I really hope it stays this way, although I'm not too sure DK likes where I've put the TV... Nor my plans to knit it a cozy.....

and so I've been muddling through a wee bit of knitting. This is a baby sized cardigan, which I can't believe is taking so long. I think it's because I haven't been knitting at home, It's hard to knit in this chaos, I feel like I should be doing something to right the chaos but I can't. I just need to be patient.




More creative peeps can be found over here.... Hello!!
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Yummy yummy chocolate balls

One of the things I love about my Thermomix is it gives you the ability to whip up sweet treats really really quickly. I can, as I did this morning, whip up in a few minutes a wholesome sugar free treat for Lily's lunchbox that beats hands down any mass produced muesli or fruit bar.

We call them chocolate balls....and they are really good.



There's lots of recipes for these types of balls but most of them contain nuts, which for school lunch boxes is a big no-no. So I've played around with a few ingredients and found that a mix of dried apricots and millet is a fabulous substitute for milled almonds, and it has a similar texture.

First up throw in the TMX:
130g dried apricots (we use organic sulphur free ones)
20g of millet (you can substitute with the same amount of millet flour)

Grind for 10 seconds on speed 8.

Then add:
120g dates
20-25g raw cacao powder (I love the Loving Earth brand)
10-15g of coconut oil
35g shredded coconut
Splash of vanilla essence

Mix again for 30 seconds on speed 6.

It'll look a little something like this:




Roll into balls and pop in the fridge, keeping an eye on them to make sure this doesn't happen!




I use all organic ingredients where possible, and the majority of these items can be found in Safeway. If you don't have access to a good health food store that stocks preservative free dried fruit (and many don't!), Safeway does have an excellent range of organic dried fruits and nuts. You can also find coconut oil there in the Asian/Indian food section.

You can substitute the cacao powder with cocoa powder, but I much prefer cacao powder. Raw cacao powder isn't heat treated like cocoa is and retains all of its antioxidants. It's also a great source of magnesium.

I buy my raw cacao powder in 1kg bags from Loving Earth. I also prefer their coconut oil too.

If you do substitute with cocoa powder, I'd suggest an organic and fair-trade Dutch-processed cocoa powder, such as the Green and Blacks. Dutch-processed cocoa Is darker and less bitter and acidic than the stuff from the supermarket. It's a vastly superior taste.

I use cacao powder for raw foods such as these balls and my raw chocolate (yep, we make raw chocolate in the TMX!) and use the G&B cocoa powder for baked goods.

These are so super easy to make. I often get the kids to make them. There's a great maths lesson in weighing the ingredients into the TMX, selecting the right time and speed. And then they roll them together!

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today

Today I'm still living a crazy sort of limbo land in my own home existence. I'm not quite game to completely unpack as we still need the painter to go through and I don't want to have to move everything again! Hurry up painter!!

Today I've spent far more time at the local swimming centre than anyone should have to as a non-swimming attendant.

Today I was so proud of my rainbow girl as she pushed herself beyond what I thought was her limit.

Today I had to bribe one child to leave the swimming pool.

Today I was feeling the frustration of not being able to find anything to wear as the contents of my wardrobe are piled on Toby's bed with a blanket over the top (he doesn't sleep in it anyway).

Today my clothes are now all over the floor of Toby's room as he pushed them off so he could dive in them.

Today we stopped to make daisy chains on the way home from school.




Today I bought a new Blythe doll.

Today I knit about 4 rounds, that is all.

Tonight I just need chocolate and chai and bed.

childhood knit

Do you have fond memories of childhood woollies?
Were you dressed in mummy or granny made knits?

My mum is a fabulous knitter, and some of my favourite childhood memories are all tied up with some of the fabulous knits and outfits she'd dress us in. My absolute favourite was my velvet maroon knickerbockers and my cream and maroon fair isle jumper. I felt so special and flash when I wore that outfit.

This cardie is the only one of my kiddie knits I have. It was my brownie cardie, and would you believe I still have my brownie dress!!

I think this yellow cardie started my love for yellow yarn. In fact, the first actual person sized garment I knit was a humunguous cabled yellow cardie when i was 14.

I still have that cardie too.

So what was your favourite. Do you still have any of them?


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An old hat

Tonight I'm sitting in this weird space that used to be my lounge room but there's no flooring, and none of my belongings. The house has that empty echoey feel about it...it seems really big, although it's not. Our bedroom, also empty except our mattress, however, seems really small. Quite bizarre!

This whole semi-moving process really made me feel for my sister, the eternal transient, who has moved houses more often than anybody I know I suspect. She's old hat at it now and has it down to a fine art, which is no mean feat with four kids.

So anyway, while I rattle around our little echolalia, here's a couple of photos of an old hat I took up at the block.




It's nice to find something you've knit years ago, particularly on the heads on such cute little ones. I knit this hat way way way pre-kids, around the year 2000 I'd guess.




I remember working the crown using dpns. And I love how even my tension was for the colourwork, trust me,this has never been blocked!




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