Ripple Love

It's finished! My cheerful Rippley Ripple blanket for my big girl's bed. I absolutely adore it and I wish it was for me, but I've made a certain smaller person very happy.

It's in acrylic so it can be easily washed, and she's a really 'hot' kid so doesn't get too cold even in winter.

I took it into work to show off to the ladies there, the bunch of blokes we work with didn't quite get what they were oooing and ahhing over.

It was a bit of a fill-in project, and I made very slow progress over summer, but in the last few weeks it's been growing really quickly. It's 122cm x 105cm - not quite full length on the single bed, but plenty long enough to keep my girl snug.

Lucy from attic24 gave the clearest instructions in her tutorial for her Neat Ripple Pattern, which made it an absolute pleasure to make.

 Hmmmm what to make now???

Ripple & Recreation

I'm finally making progress on the Ripple Blanket. It's growing quickly now that I'm over halfway (I put it away over the summer and have just pulled it out again). My big girl is happy to see that she may actually get it on her bed this winter. I've just started getting a couple of requests for hats though, and since I get paid for them the Ripple will have to be put aside for a few days.

  A couple of weeks ago I went on a most gorgeous garden tour, ending in a Sculpture Display at the Whangarei Quarry Gardens. If you've never been to the gardens it's well worth a visit if you are ever in my neck of the woods - a tropical oasis hidden away at the side of town. The girls loved the sculptures too! Aren't the gardens amazing?

My girls loved this table!

Loved this one!

Coolest Poached Eggs and Salt & Pepper sculptures

 

We had a warning of a big storm coming just over a week ago, so I made a mad dash to collect loads of seeds, fruit and flowers from my garden before the bad weather destroyed them. The weather ended up being a bit of a non-event, but at least it go me motivated to collect flower seeds for next year.

Scabosia seed pods

Cleome Seeds

Pretty Dahlias

 I also picked Elderberries - as I only had a couple of bunches I made a small amount of Elderberry Tonic. This tonic, diluted with Hot Water, is an excellent winter tonic for colds and sore throats.

Elderberry Tonic

Pick fruit on a dry day, rinse well and drain. Pull fruit from stems and put in pan, adding just enough water to cover. Simmer for around 30 mins, strain and measure juice. Add 450g sugar to each pint of juice (you could also add 10 cloves for each pint). Heat gently stirring in sugar gradually until dissolved. Boil 10 mins and leave to cool. Pour into sterilised jars or freeze in small portions (ice cube trays would work). Dilute 2 Tablespoons to a cup of hot water (and a squeeze of lemon) for the sniffles.







 We spent this weekend away in our Caravan Towbee, and despite the little bit of rain, we had a wonderful time. Quality family time, just enjoying the moment.

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Towbee is in the distance, the campground was fairly empty so it was incredibly peaceful. Loved the 1967 Zephyr Caravan at the front of this pic - it was being towed by the teeniest car - adorable!

What else can you do on a wet afternoon in the caravan?

Well that's about all for now, busy week at work ahead so must get organised now.

Have a great week - Kylie xxx

Time to show-off

I decided to get a head start to get a few winter objects done well before the cold weather arrives in NZ again (keep in mind its mid summer here). This scarf  (The Claudia Scarf) was a lovely pattern to make, but it did take me a fair while as it was in 4ply with a 3mm hook!  I really do prefer making with DK/8 ply and bigger hooks for sure.

But if you want to make a very pretty scarf, this is perfect. I think I may try it again with DK and less repeats and see how that turns out too.

That's all for me tonight, I have a terrible allergic reaction to something and have Hives all over me. Not feeling the best so I'm going to watch some trash telly.

xxx Kylie

Family Fun

 Fun family day on Saturday just gone, we took off down to a little region about an hour south of home and did the touristy thing. Matakana Markets were fab (including the crochet and cushion stall below - had to sneak a wee photo), so many yummy things to eat, lots of things to look at, including ducks which were the main attraction for the girls (see above) and a really lively atmosphere.

I got myself a wee treat while at the market, a cutesy vintage sewing box. It needs a bit of restoration work, including a wooden handle again, a few holes to be plugged, take off the gnarly lock and I'll put some knobs back on. A good sand and re-stain and it should look fab. I've always wanted one!

 

There is only so much shopping the other half can cope with though, so we spent a few hours at the beach. Goat Island was the first stop - big girl and Dad went snorkeling while little one and I sat on beach in the rain. We moved onto Mathesons Bay and it was magic. Pontoon to swim out to, mostly deserted beach. Kids had a ball!!

So after a day of slacking (relaxing really) I got busy making some Tomato Relish on Sunday. It is the best relish I've EVER made. More to be made next weekend!

No crochet progress, should hopefully have a wee ta-dah moment soon though. The hook is busy in the meantime.

Have a good remainder of the week xx Kylie

Just peachy!

 

I love late summer flowers. Dahlias and Gladiolis are popping up all over the garden, I'm so pleased as I have a new found love for them. They remind me of my Nan who loved Dahlias. I, for some strange reason, did pull up a whole heap of bulbs and tossed them away when we first moved in here. I have no idea why but I'm so pleased most of them still thrive out there.

Rat damage

There has been an invader in the orchard. Pesky rats have been chewing their way through the start of our summer crop of peaches. I'm not putting up with that at all - we have hardly any fruit this summer (codling moth has got just about our whole apple crop) so I got out there on the ladder, a big deal for height-a-phobic me, and put plastic bags (with lots of holes cut for air and moisture to escape) around each and every ripening peach. I'm happy to say that we are now enjoying beautiful big juicy peaches, and the rats are no longer beating us to them!

 

I'm loving the water lillies that have graced our pond as well, it must be a fairly healthy environment at the moment as we have some baby goldfish to go with our other six guppies in there at the moment. Obviously when a school friend of my big girl dropped off a couple more goldfish for us one must have been a boy! The girls are loving seeing these baby fish and really enjoy feeding them.

You can even see one of the baby fish (little brown thing) if you look closely enough.

The husband has always liked to drink Lemon & Barley water as a thirst quencher, but at $5 a bottle when we go through it quickly it seems a bit pricey. So he googled a recipe the other day and made some. About 50c worth of barley, a bit of sugar, water, lemon and there you go. Plus the chooks loved the left over barley once it was strained off. Homemade Lemon & Barley - much better for us too as sugar isn't the main ingredient anymore.

Recipe here

It's been a weekend of getting ready for school again. After 7 weeks finally school is going back tomorrow.  I've loved most of the holidays but being a working parent means that the last two weeks have been a bit of a juggle. Bags are almost all packed and baking has been done.

Have a lovely week xxx Kylie

Crochet in the Caravan

Camping, well caravanning went well. Towbee was a star - no leaks (mind you there was no rain luckily), the bed was comfy and the girls didn't mind sleeping in the awning. Only thing we really need is to buy some outside sun shelter as it gets a bit hot inside during the day.

The beach was stunning, loads of fun outside activities - swimming, fishing, kayaking, shellfish gathering (Tuatuas), walking, shell collecting, and of course sand creations. The girls had a blast but they were so tired (and a wee bit tetchy) by the end of it that it was good to come home - with beach souvenirs of course!

I got a little crochet done, making good progress on the slow going Claudia Scarf (4ply with a 3mm hook). I think next time (although this will look fabulous I'm sure) I would do in 8ply with less repeats. I'm all about quick gratification at the moment.

I haven't done very much on the Ripple blanket lately, it's calling me back though as the colours are too lovely to resist.

I came home to a bunch of bananas that we'd left here and they were well past their best, so banana cakes were straight on the go. One for work morning tea and one for us. Of course they had the obligitory Chocolate Icing on them. Mmmmm delicious.

A quiet weekend is on the cards this weekend, a quick catchup with some family and then pottering around the garden and home.



Oh, before I go I want to thank the lovely Sandra at Chaos, Kids, Crochet and Cake for the Leibster blogger award she gave to me. The Leibster award is to be given to Bloggers with less than 200 followers, "Leibster" meaning 'Dearest', 'Beloved' or 'Favourite'. All the blogs I read have a lot of followers so I don't really have any to pass onto but I really would love to pass one onto the following (not sure if she is quite to 200 yet).

Becs at bornagain-creations

I hope you are all having a lovely week.

Kylie x