My one a day project

My giant granny square blanket is coming along nicely. I've added 5 rows this week - total 31 rows. The rows are taking longer and longer, and I'm getting sidetracked by Christmas projects.

But I've definitely decided the blanket will become a Christmas present.  I can really picture this blanket in this special person's lounge room, and I know she will LOVE it. So must get it finished in 32 sleeps (yes, thats right, only 32 sleeps to Xmas!).

My other Christmas project is from this book , 75 Birds, Butterflies & Little Beasts to Knit and Crochet.  My, oh my, it is fun to knit her.

Can you guess what she is?

The other Christmas projects are some tree decorations and crochet bracelets.  But more on those another day.

Please go over to Gingerbread Girls blog and have a look at the other one a day projects.  

Cheerio.

Easy Peasy Knitting Project

My favourite knitting book at the moment is Easy Kids Knits by Claire Montgomerie.  I've picked up knitting again as I love knitted kids clothes and crochet clothes don't really do it for me.  Baby crochet clothes I love, but those designed for children 4 and up have little appeal.

I highly recommend this book if you're looking for easy projects - for both girls and boys aged 3-10 years.  It has projects that are typical knitted jumpers - like sweet cardigans, hooded jumpers, cabled vests, and v-neck sweaters.

While on holidays I completed my first ever proper knitting project- an easy peasy bolero for my 4 year old.

Knitted with Sirdar Snuggly Baby Bamboo and a size larger than needed so she can wear it for a couple of years.

Ravelled here.

Am considering which project to embark on next - either a sweet cardigan, or maybe a v-neck sweater in her school colours as she is starting school next year.

One a day tally

Having just come back from my holidays and being in the middle of university exams - I've made no progress on my African flower hexagons.  When on holidays, I only took with me my knitting WIP, and my crochet hooks.  I didn't want to be lugging around a bag of wool.

I was about three days into my holidays when I made a whirlwind visit to Spotlight - to buy some wool for my new crochet project.

 
I've been banging on about wanting to start crocheting a new blanket - so now its a giant granny square blanket.

Travelling in a car for hours, relaxing at our holiday cottage, and having cups of tea with my nonna provided me with lots of time to crochet.

This is where I'm up to - 26 rounds.  This will be my second one-a-day project.  My intention is to do one round each day.  Some how I lost the dark green wool ball in my travels. It's now replaced so I can get back at it.

My original intention was for this blanket to be our couch blanket.  But it may end up being a present for someone. I will see how I feel about it once completed.

I'm also working on some Christmas decorations.  Last year I did some of those lovely bauble decorations from Attic24.  I loved making them, and intend on doing some more this year too.

Have you got any Christmas projects planned?

Please have a look at some of the other one-a-day projects over at Gingerbread Girl. I'm looking forward to seeing how much progress everyones made while I've been off-line on holidays.

Cheerio!

Wildflowers and wildlife

We are now home from our family holiday in Perth and Margaret River.  While we had a fantastic time, it is great to be home.  Living out of a suitcase certainly palls after a week.

Our trip mainly involved catching up with my extended family in Perth - barbecues, bush walks, eating and more eating, and lots of coffees (with tea for me, the odd one out!).  I especially enjoyed catching up with my Nonno and Nonna - who are 86 and 84 respectively.  My Nonna gave me a tea set which I will have to show you at some point.  While it is not quite my taste, it's very interesting, and I do appreciate having something of my Nonna's in my house.

Our trip to Margaret River involved sun, beach, bushwalks and caves.  And let's not forget wine tastings and yummy food.

We swam at the most beautiful beach - Gnarabup Beach, just near Prevally Beach. Well sheltered from waves (and sharks).  There had been three people taken by sharks in the last few months, so we were pretty determined to only swim in completely shark inaccessible areas.

And here's my daughter (in the white t-shirt) and I - middle centre in the turquoise bathers.

And a highlight for this trip was the amount of wildlife we saw. My daughter and I ticked off in a little native bird book each of the types of birds we saw.  The highlight was seeing two emus crossing the road in front of our car. Sorry, couldn't pull the camera out in time so no pics. The bird below is the splendid fairy wren that visited the bird feeder at our cottage.

Our cottage was in the middle of protected bush land so we took a walk every evening along the bush paths.  This guy was one creature we found.

And this mother and joey were one of many kangaroos in pasture land near our cottage.

I hope you enjoyed my pics.  Some more will come - I still really want to show you my Nonno's vegetable garden - it is awesome.  But that will have to be for another time.

Cheerio...