Monday, December 31, 2012

Dusty - 2012

 Just before Christmas 2011 we acquired a Tonkinese kitten - called him Dusty, and he has gradually taken over our household, as only a Tonkinese cat can do.

We had a Japanese exchange student here from January to April 2012 and she was particularly fond of him - this is Dusty asleep in her bed.......
12 months on - Dusty is now a full grown Tonkinese - and as he has grown and matured his coat has got much darker
His eyes are a gorgeous aqua colour.


He adores being cuddled and will meow plaintively if he wants to be picked up.



As you can see, he is a very happy and well love d little cat.

More Felted Slippers

Felted clogs  (Fibertrend pattern) for my dear friend Vanessa in Ohio - these are the replacements for the ones I made for her a couple of years ago - all my family and friends are now asking for replacements - they love their slippers so much, they wear them to death - they make the greatest house shoes.....
 The sweet little ballerina slippers are for Vanessa's two little girls - another fibertrend pattern - I have had this pattern for a long time but this is the first time I have used it - these little slippers are even easier than the felted clog slippers. the pattern instructions come in secveral sizes, for children and ladies. These pinky-lavender ones are made using two strands of Lincraft cosy Wool together, one plain lavender and one multi.
 I had to mix two strands of different blue wool yarn together to get the right colour for these. One was Lincraft Cosy Wool in royal blue, and theother was unlabelled wool yarn in a sort of pale blue fleck.
I followed instructions, making elastic loop buttonholes on the ends of the straps and sewing on buttons to the slipper itself. On reflection, in future, I shall sew or glue on  Velcro strips or circles - I think it would be easier for little girls to manage.

These little blue slippers were made with left over blue wool yarns  - I used every scrap of blue yarn double stranded, and ended up with a nice ombre effect - now as I have been making felted clog slippers in many different colours for adults over the last 5 or 6 years - I have lots of odd balls and half balls of wool yarn left over - so I have a lot of choices to make the Ballerina slippers with - I think they would sell on Etsy pretty well - and the money can go to helping Knitting for Brisbane's Needy - my main reason for knitting....!!!!!

The Ballerina slippers took me only a few hours to make one pair!! I can make a pair of felted clogs in 24 hours knitting.....

If anyone would like a pair of felted clogs made, they will cost you $40 AUD PLUS  postage to your address, whatever Australia Post charges to your area. The Ballerina slippers will cost $25 AUD for a Child and $35 for an Adult size, PLUS postage. Just saying..............

The Fibertrend patterns are for sale online - just Google to find them.

Christmas crochet projects





Little doily made as a gift - came from South Maid booklet " Timeless Doilies to Crochet " - this one is called Flower Petals.

A stiffened snowflake for a gift - it is a large one so can be either hung on the tree or used as a coaster - my friend loved both of them...this is called Irish Rose Snowflake and it was free online.

One of my snowflakes  on the tree - spun glass reindeer to its left and a spun glass little crib on the top right of it.
Some more crocheted snowflakes - a spun glass ornament in the centre - I really like these - and I try to collect them whenever I see them.

 Another snowflake - these all came from a book of crocheted snowflake patterns - I have a few of them - I love doing them they are so easy and such fun to make.


After the tree went up - a few days before Christmas - every time I saw a bauble that was not covered, I crocheted over it - until nearly all the ones on the tree were crocheted.. there are a few still to do. Last Christmas I bought lots of very cheap discarded ornaments, mostly silver, from an op shop and have been steadily crocheting covers for them all year. I think I paid as little as $1 for 6, if I remember rightly. and as I always have a lot of white crochet thread in my stash it really cost me very little to upgrade my tree ornaments...

Christmas over for another year!

Here is the tree - I have been crocheting lots of snowflakes and also covering silver ornaments with white crochet  - this picture was taken immediately after the tree went up - but in the few days before Christmas I crocheted more covered ornaments!

I bought some more little spun glass ornaments too - this is a reindeer next to a crocheted snowflake.

we spent the day at my daughter's house - just the four of us, DH and me, and Simone and her partner Rick. We had very simple, good food, turkey, pork, ham, boiled potatoes in butter and parsley, a delicious mango salad with pecans, and a lovely cabbage salad with crispy noodles that my daughter makes so yummy.....the table looked gorgeous...

this is turkey and pork on the plate, with the stuffing from the turkey. I supplied the turkey - the stuffing was wonderful - a chopped mango, mixed with chopped green onon, red capsicum (bell pepper), chopped cashew nuts and some brown sugar - oh it was delicious!

One of my crochet covered ornaments.

We had prawns - outside because Simone loathes them - she sat as far away as possible while Eric, Rick and I devoured them......oh so yummy! Simone you don't know what you are missing!


My gorgeous daughter Simone, looking cool and collected, even after all the preparations for Christmas

And my lovely Rick, Simone's partner - a truly nice man.... 

Notice it was hot and sunny - an Aussie Christmas indeed....

Wednesday, December 05, 2012

Baby knits again

This is a little pattern I designed some years back - based on the Beribboned Eyelet Sweater - it was a more boyish version, and I also made the bands continuous, around the whole sweater. I hadn't made one of these for a while - I had forgotten how nice and easy it is, with very little seaming - just a tricky bit at the back of the armhole and shoulder. 
You can find this pattern on Ravelry along with a couple of others of mine - just look for Yvette O'Brien in designers. oh, yes - it is free!

Sunday, November 25, 2012

More Knitting

Well I have been adding pics of my knitting to Ravelry again - I just can't seem to keep up with everything lately. Made a few little things, for gifts to overseas friends, and a scarf for an exchange for Christmas. Some of these little items I finished a while back but only just got around to finishing, sewing buttons on etc. I hate sewing up......

This cute little fellow is the Mini Fox from Tiny Owl - made for a lady who saw me n Ravelry and asked me to make him He is a sort of scarf/collar - there is a bigger version which is more like a scarf.  
Such a sweet little face...

I have never made anything like this before....



Another pair of felted clogs, from the trusty pattern from Fibertrends! this has to be the most used pattern in my collection - I have made dozens of pairs of these!
This pair in yellow was made for my dear little friend Kaori, who went back to Japan on Friday 23rd November. More about that later....


The Baby Kina - I am addicted to this pattern - this version is the short sleeved one.
See the cute little elephant buttons? They are from Spikecraft on www.ebay.com.au
I love them trimmed with Moda Vera Jazz  - I made a red one like this too - and ran out of yarn so used the Jazz to finish off the body. So I have made several like it since, a perfect example of a mistake turning out to be a great design idea!


The pink and lavender ones are the long sleeved versions and I made a little hat to match the pink one.
What next ? Oh yes,the ingenious Presto Chango baby cardigan!


See the front panel? It buttons on to the sweater with four buttons each side. Make a second front panel and when you want a change, just unbutton the first one and replace with the second one. Ideal for when you are out with baby and the front of the sweater gets drooled on - just whip out the new panel and replace it!


This one is the Garter Stitch Cross Over Wrap Top from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erica Knight - a really nice book of easy baby things.
I used some 20 crochet thread to do a little scalloped edge - so dainty...

Next is the Silver Baby Cardigan - lovely little pattern - top down so no seaming, my favourite.

The little hat I made up using the stitch pattern from the jacket.
All the patterns above are on Ravelry - some are free - the Baby Kina, and the Mini fox from Tiny Owl Knits are available to buy on Ravelry though. The Simple Knits for Cherished Babies is also from a purchased book.

The Swiss Cheese Scarf - oh this is such fun to do!! I didn't do it exactly to the pattern requirement though - I made a nice straight edge on mine by eliminating one of the holes at each end of the second pattern repeat row. Better imho.



Also, I found the constant making of the holes a bit tedious after a while so rather than make the whole scarf like it, I made the centre just in garter stitch. This had the added advantage of being less bulky in the part that actually goes around the neck. You can see the difference in my edge compared to the picture on the pattern, can't you? This is a free pattern on Ravelry - and I made this in pure Australian Merino wool from Spotlight - and oh, it blocked beautifully, opening up the holes spectacularly!

And finally a trio of face cloths! All done in Bavarian Crochet (see the Wool Eater Blanket by Sarah London for instructions how to do this stitch)



That's all for now folks!

WHAT A WHOPPER!!!


Have you ever seen a strawberry as big as this before?? Is this some kind of record?