Wow, I can't believe how that package of yarn from MJ has motivated me!!  Since receiving it late on Monday afternoon, I've used a full skein making preemie hats and booties for TTT.  I think I must have been getting bored with the colours I already had here.  That Holly and Ivy multicoloured Red Heart is absolutely gorgeous and makes the sweetest little hats and booties.  I've now completed my pledge of 10 pairs of booties for TTT, but I think I'll make some more to put in anyway...they give me a bit of a change in between making hats.  Not all my hats are traditional Christmas colours (tend to think of red, green and white), but most remind me of the different ways my Mum used to decorate the Christmas tree when I was a kid.  One year she put only red and green decorations on it, another year it was only blue and silver, another year was lots of different bright colours, etc.  So even though my little hats don't look overly Christmassy to some people, nearly all the colours I've used remind me of our Christmas tree when I was much younger.  :)

I'm over the halfway point with my pledge of 100 hats, and at the rate I've been going over the last couple of days since getting this new yarn, I should have them finished in no time at all...lol

Once again, a huge thank you to MJ!!  Not only have you supplied with me some lovely yarn, you've also got me motivated again.  And an extra huge thank you for the loom you included in the parcel for Jasmine...she's going to be so excited at having her very own first loom!!!

Happy looming all!!

Hugs,
Jane in Australia  :)

November 1 already...I just can't believe.  That means that Christmas is just around the corner...again.  I've been having to go to the hospital every day to get my dressing changed, and now I have to go to the doctor once a week to have an injection for my Crohn's.  This is severely cutting into my looming time...all the entra time spent in my car.  I need to find a way to loom and drive at the same time!!  Well, maybe not...I think that's a recipe for getting back into hospital...lol

I'm slowly catching up with my TTT pledges.  I've now made 46 little hats and 8 pairs of booties.  Well, I did have help with the booties...lol  Jasmine has been making some...a pair each weekend she's been here over the last 3 weeks.  It's just delightful to see a 12 year old taking an interest in charity work and realising that it's better to give to those in need rather than just "wanting" all the time.  :)

Here's the pics of the latest batch of 21 hats and the 8 pairs of booties made to date.  I must admit, they're not all in Christmas colours, but they're all lovely colours regardless.





Awwwwwwwwww, don't they look so cute??  :)

The best thing happened yesterday!!  I got a big box in the mail from MJ in the States with 10 skeins of the most gorgeous multicoloured Red Heart Super Saver yarn!!  Thanks so much, MJ...I owe you big time for that.  I'm saving my pennies so I can send you yarn shopping again....lol  I just love that Red Heart multicolor yarn...wish we could get something like it here.

Happy crafting everyone.

Hugs,
Jane in Australia  :)

Well, what a couple of weeks it's been.  First off I spent two days in hospital a fortnight ago getting a breast abscess excised and drained.  Not my idea of fun, I can tell you.  I went in on the Sunday afternoon and they put me on IV antibiotics with no result.  I saw the surgeon on the Monday at about 12:15pm and was in the operating theatre by 1pm...now that was fast work.  I'm still going to the hospital every day to get the dressing changed, though today the nurse told me that we're going to try to skip tomorrow...so hopefully that will mean I'll only have to go every second day.  The wound is healing which is good as I have an allergy to the adhesive stuff on all the dressings.  Hopefully won't be much longer though.

Then to top things off, I had the worst toothache last weekend.  It got so bad that in the end my entire mouth was hurting and I couldn't tell which was the bad tooth.  So off to the dentist on Tuesday morning.  They extracted the offending tooth and put me on antibiotics again.  Sheesh, I hope that's it for me for a while.  Everytime I get sick like this, I stop doing any of my crafts.  So I've fallen behind on my 100 hats for TTT.

But I'm back into the swing of things again now.  I've completed 38 of the 100 hats so far, and have finished six pairs of tube booties.  :)  They're all so little and sweet.  Time to get a wriggle on and get my pledges for TTT finished so I can move onto the mini hats for our KWON Christmas exchange.  I'm kind of glad I haven't started on these mini hats yet...seems that everyone who has started on them has had people like them so much, they've taken them...lol  So they just have to keep making more.  :)  Perhaps it's not such a bad thing being a bit late in getting started...lol

I'm also working on my loomed candy stripe slippers.  I'm trying to be a bit imaginative and clever here (don't know how well that will work out...lol) so I'm making them using Red Heart Symphony yarn in Mystic Purple, and some Bernat Denim Look worsted weight yarn in a brown and white fleck.  The Symphony yarn is kind of fluffy, so it's making a really nice contrast to the Bernat.  I'll post a pic when I get them finished.

Lynn has some new looms just about ready to go on the market and boy, can I feel a loom shopping splurge coming on...lol  I've been very good for the last couple of months and haven't ordered anything new, so I figure it's about time I ordered some more.  It seems that USPS doesn't want to let me have a parcel that's over 42" in length, and I really must have Lynn's new 48" fine gauge single rake, so Teresa has kindly offered to send it to me via UPS so I don't have to miss out.  :)  Thanks so much Teresa for your kind offer, and thanks heaps to Lynn for constantly coming up with new looms to keep us interested and motivated in this wonderful craft.  I also need another 30 peg fine gauge round loom so I can make some more slippers in adult sizes as well as keep going with my preemie hats.

On the upside of spending a couple of days in hospital the other week, one of the nurses found me looming away while sitting in bed.  They didn't have any room in the surgical ward for me, so they stuck me in a room on my own in Maternity...lol  The nurse there said that they were desperate for donations of hats, booties and blankies for the babies in winter time, so I've now found a local outlet for my charity looming.  I'm so excited about this.  Our winter time I can make things for the local hospital, and in our summer time I can make things to send to Teresa for TTT.  Now I know for sure I can be productive and busy all year around.  :)

At long last, Spring seems to have sprung here in Western Australia.  We've had so much rain I think I was starting to go mouldy...lol  It's a gorgeous sunny warm day here with a forecast temp of 26 degrees Celsius (80 F).  No doubt within another 6 to 8 weeks I'll be complaining of the heat as they're forecasting the hottest summer on record...lol  Oh well, as long as it's a dry heat I'll be happy...just can't stand humidity.  :)

Happy looming everyone and I hope you're all well.

Hugs,
Jane in Australia  :)

Woohoo!!!  I've learnt something new!!  This morning in the KWON group KAL class, we learnt how to make children's knitted slippers on the loom.  And I've finished my first ever pair of slippersl  :)  I am feeling sooooooooo proud of myself...lol  I've always wanted a pair of knitted slippers for myself...now I'm planning on making a pair for all my family members for Christmas...lol  Guess I'll have to wait till next winter before I find time to make a pair for myself...lol 

Anyway, here's a look at them.  Let me know what you think.  :)



I used Lynn's 20 peg fine gauge loom and a single strand of Red Heart Super Saver multicolor yarn in the Shaded Dusk colour.  I really love those variegated yarns that Red Heart put out.  :)

Happy looming all.

Hugs,
Jane in Australia :)

Well, here we are and it's October already.  Where on earth has this year gone to already??  It's absolutely flown.  I can't believe all the stores have their Christmas stuff in them so soon...mind you, I've been seeing it in the stores for over a month now...I've just chosen to ignore it so far...lol

I finally posted out my little fleece blankies for TTT last week, so hopefully Teresa will get them in the next couple of days.  I also finally posted off my crocheted squares for our August swap on Swapperszone...lol...bit late, but they're finally on their way.  Luckily, there was no September swap to give people a chance to catch up.  Now, it's time to start making October's swap squares...lol

Been busy making baby hats in preemie sizes for TTT.  I want to get the 100 done that I pledged by mid November so I can post them in time so they get to Teresa at the end of November so she can deliver them to the hospitals in plenty of time for Christmas.  The thought of all those dear little babies with their cute little Christmas hats is just wonderful...so many more little heads will be kept warm this coming winter in the States.  I've got 21 made so far, so another 79 to go, if not more.  Plus I pledged at least 10 pairs of booties...I have one pair of tube booties made so far...lol...so need to get cracking on those too.  I forgot to take a pic of the blankies before I sent them out, but will take regular "progress" photos of the little hats and post them here...it will encourage me to keep going and get them all made.  Here's a pic of the first 21 little hats...not all of them are in the Christmas theme (I was running out of combinations for red, white and green...lol), but I'm sure they'll still warm little heads.  :)



The colours look a little dim in this pic...not sure why...but it gives a rough idea of what they look like.  :)  The tiny wee little red hat in the front was loomed on one of Lynn's 20 peg fine gauge looms...hard to imagine that a tiny human head will fit in there, it's just so small.    All the red/white, green/white, red/green hats were loomed on Lynn's 30 peg fine gauge loom.  The two pink fluffy ones as well as the six orange/yellow/black/brown fluffy ones were loomed on the blue Knifty Knitter and the remaining five variegated hats were loomed on a 26 peg, regular gauge adult sock loom by Cindy Alberts.

Well, that's enough chit chat from me today, time to get back to hat and bootie making.  :)  Hope everyone's happy and healthy.  Happy crafting everyone

Hugs,
Jane in Australia  :)

Well, between health problems and computer problems, it's been quite a while since I've posted anything here.  It's also been quite some time since I've done any looming.  :(  But I'm back now and raring to go!!  :)

I've finished my challenge of making 10 preemie blankies for TTT (though I still have to send them off which I'll be doing next week when I get paid).  I think I finished up with 16 little blankies...I didn't actually make them as such...just cut them out from some lovely fleece fabric with scallop edged scissors...lol  Still, I'm hoping they'll be useful for the babies.

Now I've signed up for another challenge for TTT...making 100 Christmas knitted hats for babies in preemie to newborn sizes.  That's going to keep me busy...lol  I signed up for this yesterday afternoon and I've got two little hats made so far...I'm going to have to get a move on to get them posted to the States before the end of November.  :)  I'll post some pics when I've made a few more.

Hope everyone's well and happy!!

Love and hugs,
Jane :)

I just love getting parcels in the mail...even more so when they're from overseas and even better when they're full of looms/rakes!!  :)

Yesterday, our parcel delivery guy pulled up out the front and brought in a big box for me.  Yes, it was from Lynn and contained my latest order of rakes and looms.  I got the 36" reg gauge single rake, the 18" reg gauge single rake, the 18" fine gauge single rake, and the 24 peg round reg gauge loom.  Plus a skein of Lynn's wonderful handspun Jacob wool and a small pot of her fantastic bee balm...I just love that stuff, especially with it being cold and windy here making my lips dry out and crack so badly...lol  It's just perfect for that!!  So thanks heaps, Lynn!!  As always, I just love the parcels I receive from you.  :)

Well, I don't know where the "dirty" part comes into it, but it was kinda fun.  :) Give it a try and see how you go. 

Your IQ Is 115

Your Logical Intelligence is Average Your Verbal Intelligence is Genius Your Mathematical Intelligence is Exceptional Your General Knowledge is Exceptional

http://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtyiqtest/


My looming has taken a bit of a back seat this past week.  I'm behind on my crocheted squares I need to get made and sent off to people for our swap group, so I've been madly crocheting away.  I should have them all done pretty soon so I can get back to the looms...YAY!!  :)

Still working on my poncho and pink baby blankie though.  Hopefully I'll have those finished soon and can get on with some other projects I have in mind.

But more later...I still have a ton of emails to get through and it's "State of Origin" Rugby League on tv tonight...lol  It's one of the things I miss from living over east.  They play a different code of football over here...one that I'm not at all interested in...lol

Happy crafting,
Jane  :)

Yes, that's right...it started raining again today.  Talk about feast or famine.  We had virtually no rain at all over summer and autumn...now it seems to do nothing but rain.  Oh well, it saves watering the garden and makes for great looming weather.  :)

I've now completed 65 rows of the pink baby blankie I'm working on.  Still got a long way to go, but it's looking terrific so far.  I've put it down for now so I can get more of my poncho done.  Sheesh, I think I need another couple of pairs of hands to get all the projects done that I want to do...lol

I'm currently on row 40 of the front side of my poncho.  The stitch pattern changes after 50 rows, so I'm getting there.  Then another 36 rows before I start doing decreases.  As it's midnight now, there's no way I'll be up to the decrease part by the time the KAL class starts in the morning at 9am...lol  Never mind, I'll get there in the end. 

Hopefully I'll get a chance to take pics of both projects in progress over the next couple of days and post them here so you can all see them.  Which reminds me, I still need to get a pic of the socks I made for myself and post that too...lol

Well, time for bed so that I can be bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning for the KAL class.

Happy crafting,
Jane  :)

Today was a pretty busy day for me...I had a few errands to run that seemed to take all day...lol  But at least it was a beautiful warm (22C or 72F) and sunny day.  Was nice to see the back end of the rain for a while.  It's supposed to be the same tomorrow with a return to rain on Wednesday...blah.  I've got a nasty head cold at the moment which isn't exactly thrilling me to death...snuffly nose and I keep sneezing with a bit of a sore throat thrown in for good measure...lol  Hopefully it won't last too long.  I've never really been one for getting colds and the flu...but I'm making up for it this year...had quinzy last weekend, now I've got a head cold.  Oh well, could be worse...lol

The cats and dog managed to absolutely trash the pair of curtains in the back room a few months ago...I mean they were shredded...lol  Spotlight had a big one day sale on today, so I headed off there to see if I could find some new curtains at a reasonable price.  I definitely got lucky...I found these lovely "sage" coloured curtains...a sort of antiquey embroidered design on them...they were marked down from $60 to $20 each...YAY  I've put them up in the back room already and they look just great!!  Needless to say the animals aren't allowed in that room anymore....lol  I ran some other errands, but they were pretty boring...lol  Must say, it was a great day to go shopping...as it's end of financial year, there are lots of stocktake sales on that are well worth it.  :)

Onto the looming front.  I've now completely 50 rows of the pink baby blankie.  I'm still finding it very fiddly to do, but my fingers seem to be getting into more of a rhythm with it now.  It's not something I can do when I'm really tired though, as I really need to concentrate on counting the stitches to know when to change from knit to purl and vice versa...it would be really easy to stuff the pattern up completely...lol  I'm guessing at this stage I probably need to make it a total of about 300 rows in length, so I really need to get a move on with it.  The poor baby will end up getting it for her 21st birthday if I'm not careful...lol  The more I do of it, the more I'm liking how it's turning out...I think it's going to be really pretty when it's finished.  I'll try to take a pic when it's a bit longer...it's only about 6" in length so far, so not much to show up in a pic.  Oh, nearly forgot....I'm making this blankie using Lion Brand Jamie Classic yarn in peppermint pink.  I bought the yarn from someone on Ebay, and boy was it a great find...excellent price too.  I think I should have enough of it...it's looking like this blankie is going to take about 6 skeins to finish, as I'm already on the second one.

My poor poncho is feeling neglected, I'm sure...lol  I haven't done any of it since Friday, so there's still only 25 rows done.  But I'm going to get more done on it tomorrow and Wednesday.  I'd like to be up to the part where the front piece gets divided into two pieces to form the shoulder section by the time the KAL class starts on Thursday morning (Wednesday evening for my American friends).  I just love watching it grow so fast...it's getting so exciting getting closer and closer to finishing it.

I have a number of projects I need to finish up...and soon...lol  I still need to finish crocheting my squares to send off for the June swap on Swapperszone...I'm hoping to be able to send them out by the end of this week with a bit of luck...early next week at the latest.  Then I can start on the squares for the July swap.  Busy, busy, busy...just the way I like it...lol  Keeps me out of mischief...lol

Oh well, time for bed I think...otherwise I'll be too tired to do anything much tomorrow.  I need to go and buy another load of firewood to see us through until the weekend and take my glasses to the optometrist to get them fixed.  Then after a quick tidy up around the house, I should be able to devote most of the day to looming and crocheting, with a bit of laundry thrown in there for good measure...lol

Happy crafting all.
Hugs,
Jane :)