Rat Ruffle & Sothia

I’m going to be catching up on my blog by showing off some of my finished items and some of my WIPs.

My friend Tracey went away to work in Brisbane which is much colder than it is here. I made her this shawlette called Rat Ruffle, I got the pattern from Ravelry.

I used my beloved Wollmeise yarn to make it and overall was very happy with how it turned out.  Tracey told me she got a lot of wear out of it, she actually wore it to my birthday dinner last Saturday.

One of my many current projects is Sothia, this is the designers own photo and I love her gorgeous grey-ness.

I have decided to do a lighter version in spring colours using Wollmeise colours Pitahaya & Natur:

So far so good I think…

Flowers in the Snow…

That is the name of this lovely crochet pattern that I am using to make my daughter a throw for her ‘big girl’ bed.

 

It is going to take an awful lot of these:

 

I will be joining about 400 of them in white and I think it is going to look beautiful. The yarn I am using is 100% 8 ply cotton from Bendigo Woollen Mill.

 

This is the original pattern and it is completed using a join-as-you-go method. I am not sure if I will be using this as I like the look of a more solid, less lacy,

 

Cyclone Yasi

We survived the cyclone quite well. My town was relatively lucky in that only property and trees were damaged. No lives were lost. Further North there is total devastation and I feel so sorry for so many who have lost so much.

We were with out power for 2 days and now have a clean up to do around the house. I have a large tree broken in half in my backyard.

This is the view from my front door:

BEFORE:

DURING:

AFTER:

Here are some more photos from the drive from my house to my mother’s:

 

 

This is a picture of my daughter and I outside my Mum’s place

As you can see a lot of trees damaged but fortunately most houses withstood the wind. Again, we are very lucky.

Go away Cyclone Yasi

My home state is probably going to be hit by the biggest cyclone/hurricane/typhoon to ever hit Northern Australia. This is what the Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting:

Hurricane Katrina was a Category 5 and Cyclone Yasi is predicted to be a 4/5 at this point. I live in Townsville which is in the middle of the expected crossing area. We are making preparations and hoping for the best.

52in52 – Shadow again…

I did get a couple more shadow photos today at the beach. So it is going to be a touch choice to see which one I submit this week.

 

The first is fairly symbolic of the tropical town that I live in:

The second photo shows my daughter celebrating Australia Day  – we went for a swing at a playground by the sea:

I have been taking these photos in the Automatic mode on my new DSLR – this week I will read the manual and have a go at using some manual settings. Wish me luck…

52in52 – Shadow

This week the prompt for 52 Photos in 52 Weeks was Shadow.  I took my little girl for a walk around the streets near our house looking for something interesting to photograph. These are the best that I’ve come up with so far – will go out again tomorrow and see if I can get any better.

 

The first picture is of the shadow of my little shadow…. Miss Paige like to follow Mummy everywhere and do everything that Mummy does.

 

My second contender is one of the 2 of us – we aren’t this squashed up looking usually. She is so independent these days that it is nice that she wants to hold my hand sometimes – it looks like she is taking the photo too, kind of funny.

It is Australia Day tomorrow so I don’t have to go to work – I will take Paige out and see what other pictures we can get.

Grannying on….

I’ve made a start on my granny squares and this is the yarn to make them. I’m thinking a set of the blue/green and a set of the pink/purple, or maybe I should mix them up a bit as well? I will just keep going until I’v done a reasonable amount.

ETA:  Here is something delicious that arrived in the post today from Germany…. a little yarn porn:

Crochet a Rainbow – Sarah London

Sarah London is holding a charity crochet project to benefit the victims of the Queensland floods. She is getting people to crochet bright and cheerful granny squares that will be made into blankets.

There is info over at her blog about the details. The aim of the project us to “inject some sunshine and colour into the lives of those affected by the floods as they begin to re-build and start over.” As a fellow Queenslander I feel that this is a nice way for me to contribute.

I have a pile of bright yarns that will be just perfect for this project. So I am going to get my granny on and get hooking. I’ve made a start:





52in52 – Evening

This weeks prompt was Evening. It was a bit of a challenge for me. Most of my evenings revolve around the usual routines of my life as a solo Mum of a 2 year old. I don’t want all of my photos for this project to be of my daughter so I went hunting for what else evening might mean to me.

On Monday evenings I meet with my friends – the Red Buttons – for a coffee, cake and crafting time. We meet at my friends craft studio – Pompom Rouge –  and we always have a good night. This is the view from outside of the studio on Monday evening:

On my drive home I went via the beach and saw what I would like evenings to mean to me if I can ever get myself organised enough. This is a picture of people exercising and enjoying our beautiful beach in the warm tropical evening:

However the picture that I will be submitting to the 52Photos in 52 Weeks flickr group this week is one that shows what the evening was like for me last night. I started work at 20:45 last night. It was my first night shift since my daughter was born, it was our first night apart in the 2 years that she has been here – I did not think it was going to be a good evening.

I work in the operating theatres of a large public hospital. It is a good evening in my town when the corridors of the operating theatre complex looks like this all night. – it means no one was badly hurt, it means no one was desperately needing surgery, it means that no little babies were going to make a very rushed, emergency entry into the world. It was a good evening in my town last night:

 

 

 

 

52in52 – Independence

Week 2’s photo prompt was Independence.  As the mother of a 2 year old, I see her growing independence every day. Only a few months ago I was walking her in her pram, and now she walks her ‘baby’ to the end of street and back. Her little legs go so fast and she waves at the people in the street when they say hello.