A quick fix

When Im working on one or two larger projects I sometimes feel the need for a quick project to satisfy my cravings for making AND finishing something. So this week I did just that and whipped up this crochet scarf, using scrap yarn and a beautiful woven stitch of single crochet, chain one.

This isn’t the first time Ive used this stitch (you can check out my dishcloths here), I like the fabric it makes and the way it looks, a little more stylish than a plain crochet stitch.

I guess since I joined the ends together its technically a cowl (or maybe a snood or an infinity scarf depending on where you are from), but whichever way you look at it, its lovely and warm and cozy!

And boy did it ever use up a good lot of my leftover wool 🙂

It was very useful today in the chilly wind and rain I had to stand in while watching not one, but two early morning games of Saturday soccer. In fact Im fairly sure, as I sit in front of my roaring fire tonight typing this that I have only JUST begun to thaw out! 

I quickly ducked outside this afternoon to catch the last of the quickly fading light to take these photos and the wind was still blowing everything around:

In other satisfying, but perhaps less permanent projects completed this week, in an unusual half hour where I found myself at home (alone!) and dinner already sorted, I painted some leaves…

I love autumn leaves, and these magnolia leaves lent themselves well as a lovely sturdy canvas. I used some acrylic paint and markers to create these designs, and while they won’t last forever, they were a fun way to use the time I had to unwind at the end of what had been a busy day.

Ok, so maybe I wasn’t entirely alone. I did have a small furry ‘helper’ who couldn’t quite understand what I was doing and why I wasn’t patting him!

I hope your week has been a good one, and for those of you enjoying spring, spare a thought for me as winter fast takes us into her fold and send me some words of the lovely sunshine and greenery you are enjoying at your place please! J xoxo

Home again and a special package waiting for us!

We’ve spent the last week holidaying in the Coromandel – which is about 2.5 hours away from where we live and on the upper east coast of the North Island of New Zealand…

It’s a beautiful seaside town…

And we spent much time exploring the coastline (The children are seen here crab hunting):

They found some tiny (tiny) crabs…

We even managed some exploring by boat 🙂

Parts of Coromandel are pretty famous

You may recognize this beach – Cathedral Cove – from one of the Narnia movies?

We had lots of walks, especially in the evenings, which even though its getting dark much earlier now, are a lovely way to wind down after dinner.

But it sure was nice to arrive home after a week away.  I love my home and love arriving back from a stay away. There’s something wonderful about returning home.

And that first nights sleep in my own bed.  Heaven!

More importantly, there was a very special package waiting for us when we got home! The children ravaged it open as soon as they were in the door… seems we don’t get much mail these days!

Inside a cute ladybug tin were some special hand painted rocks, which had travelled by mail all the way from Berlin, Germany. The lovely Julius had seen our earlier posts about our rock painting endeavours and suggested to his mum Carina, that we could exchange rocks… which of course we were very excited to do!

There was also some gorgeous self striping sock yarn in the package, which I was very excited to see. Thank you Carina and Julius!

One thing I love about blogging is the amazing people you ‘meet’ through shared interests (as an aside nobody in my family understands my love of crafting – my brother often shakes his head and tells me Im an 80 year old woman trapped in a 40 year old’s body!). I have followed Carina and her blog Häkelmonster for the last few (maybe 4 or 5) years and always enjoy seeing what she has been up to. It intrigues me that although we can be half a world apart we can have so much in common, from sock knitting to child raising and much in between.

If you are interested you can read Carina’s post about the rock exchange here and see what our NZ rocks look like 🙂

Have you received any exciting mail recently?

Have a lovely week, friends. Janette xx

Early winter snaps and new socks

It was the Queen’s birthday weekend holiday today, and this afternoon we took a beautiful walk through the Hamilton gardens…

The air has a cold chill to it, but  the sun is still lovely and warm. A holiday on a Monday is a perfect start to the week, if only every Monday could be spent this way 🙂

And, in other news, I finished Carter’s new socks. He’s rather pleased with them… but convincing him to sit still for long enough to take a photo – that took about a week!

I’ve cast on another pair already!

Thank you for the lovely reassuring comments in the last post. Maia arrived home from camp on Friday, safe and sound. She had a lovely time! But oh was I glad to have her home 🙂

How did your week start? Jxx

An autumn walk

For  those of you that have been following for a while you will know that we live in Hamilton, New Zealand, very close to some spectacular gardens, maybe even best gardens in the world! This afternoon we took a family walk through them, and in the fading  afternoon light I took these photos – which I thought I’d share with you…

Do children always have such boundless energy?

I love this photo, but for the leaves, the fish could be swimming in the sky!

Maybe that should be verdant autumn…

Lots of fun with looooog shadows…

Autumn really is a lovely time of year – the nights are cool but the days are bright and warm. The leaves are changing colour, but there is still so much in bloom. What’s your favourite season? What’s the weather like where you are? J xoxox

 

Holiday update and giveaway winner…

Sorry this post is a little late… you see we were on holiday at the beach for a week, having a gloriously relaxing time, which was – as I’m sure you can imagine – just wonderful at this time of year. I had intended to post a quick update from my nice newish (it was only 6 weeks old) smart phone, sometime on Monday. That was until it became acquainted with the bottom of the ocean, got in a huff and now isn’t talking to me anymore. In actual fact, its not doing anything anymore. Well except sitting in a bag of rice praying for a miracle (ok the praying part, that’s me).

Anyway so we got home on Tuesday afternoon and since then I have been up to my eyeballs in Christmas preparation. I thought I’d share a few of our summery holiday snaps. But if you are really keen to find out the giveaway winner, just scroll to the bottom of the post 🙂

Thank you to everyone who entered in the Crochet Pretty e-book giveaway.

Without further ado the winner is (drum roll please)… Rose Griffin, who said:  Love the draw string purse! Add me to the list!! I want one!!!  Congratulations Rose, if you send me an email Ill send you the details for claiming your prize 🙂

Happy holidays everyone xxoo xxoo

In my world

Here’s a few random little snippets from my world recently…

We are now mid-spring here in New Zealand and the weather is warming up. My garden is growing at warp speed – more on that soon. Its a rare occasion to see Tui in my garden, but this week there were a couple sipping on flax flowers. Birds, you will note, are well outside my photographic expertise!

Speaking of flowers, Carter expressed his inner floral artist at school for their gala event. He had such a proud Mummy! Here’s his sand saucer;

Buttonhole arrangement:

Miniature garden:

And glitter jar/upside down jar arrangement:

Walking on the beach, with toes out – much more palatable now the weather is warming up, hmmm might need to dig out some nail polish!

Drinking lots of smoothies… mostly berries, sometimes with greens, but always with added chia (don’t blend them)!

Carter the spider:

Maia doing her best impression of a sculpture:

Tillandsias hanging in my window… the best low maintenance pot plants, driftwood and macrame optional!

The building (and rebuilding) of fairy houses is in full swing: 

As well as raising seeds and planting seedlings like crazy, I’m propagating a variety of plants… this is my kitchen windowsill, and I’m happy to report that every eastern and southern windowsill in our house is also home to a large number of small jars with lots of other potential plants for my garden!

Our crochet loving cat (actually I think its the wool he loves!)

Finally, here’s a shot of a little blue crochet (one of two projects) I have on the go… more on that soon 🙂

What’s happening in your world? xxxoooxxxx