Catching Up on a Rainy Monday Afternoon

Hi everyone! 

It has been literally weeks (if not months) since I have blogged about something not CAL or Captain Poprocks related... everything jut got crazy busy all at once! 

I've started a new job at the Law Society, assisting with their Thought Leadership project. Plus, June to August is also the busiest time for youth exchange, as we are interviewing and finding overseas placements for our outbound students who will leave in January, as well as receiving and training the inbound students who arrive in July. 

Our Days for Girls project has also exploded (in a good way!) in the last few months - everyone wants to get involved! We have just sent 100 kits to Papua New Guinea with the Rotary Club of Umina, 100 kits will be going to East Timor in a few weeks time, and the next job is 200 kits for Cambodia in September (which is terrifyingly close...)

Our kits in PNG!

Our major fundraiser for Days for Girls is coming up on 24 September - we are putting on a High Tea, with delicious sandwiches, sumptuous hot morsels, and gloriously decadent sweet treats to enjoy, along with as many cups of tea and coffee as our guests can manage, AND an opera singer!! If you live somewhere around Sydney and would like to come along, here's the invitation! 

Just about everything is locked down now, so in the last week I've had a bit more time to do crochet... finally! (a bit like this post really) My crochet life is full of WIPs at the moment, and not nearly enough finished things.

I love this little cutie patootie - and just need to sew on her ears and weave the ends in on the blanket and she can go off to her new owner! The Heidi Bears animals are definitely among my favourite things to make. This pattern is Nellie the Elephant, and you can get it on Ravelry here.

I have an order for 5 (yes five!) mini kangaroos and joeys coming up! They are very cute, but a bit hard on the hands to make with 4 ply yarn and a 2.25mm hook. I've made all the parts for two more kangaroos and they just need stuffing and sewing. One set has been requested in "Tiffany Blue", so with any luck I'll be able to steal a bit of my mum's time in the next few weeks to do some yarn dyeing! 

While I finish off some other things, the joeys are having some well-supervised childcare at the Kangaroo Creche with my candy animals (and a rogue Yoshi). 

My Tie-Back Tunic is coming along! The back panel is done, the front is underway (although I am having a disagreement with the pattern) and one of the waist ties is complete. I absolutely adore the yarn - Cascade Heritage Solid in Wine, and Cascade Heritage Hand-Painted in Roses (75% Merino Wool, 25% Nylon). 

Plus the texture is just so nice (and the colour is more accurate in the photo below)...

Finally, because I don't have enough things to do already, I've started Polly Plum's Lotus Moon Tile CAL, using up my Stylecraft Special DK stash. The flowers are so beautiful, and the pattern so well written! 

And my trusty Zig Zag Project Tote has been called into service again! Lucky I didn't line it - the bag really needs to stretch a bit to squish all that yarn in it..

Phwoar, writing it all down makes me realise how much I'm doing. It's only 3 weeks until the Carousel CAL starts - do you think I'll get most of this done by then?? 

I better hop off the computer and get hooking!!! 

Days for Girls - Ryde Area Team!

A quick photo post from me today - we had our first workshop yesterday as an official Days for Girls Team! There were 33 in attendance over the afternoon (including 5 kids who did running around, unpinning, and entertaining the cat), and we made 1500 liners! That's enough for 187 kits :D And, still had enough time for tea and scones :) 

If you want to find out more about Days for Girls, comment below, send an email to rydensw@daysforgirls.org, or check out their website www.daysforgirls.org 

Crafternoons - Chatter, Craft and Company!

Hi everyone!

Today we had one of our (very irregular) Crafternoons - an opportunity for friends to come, share some afternoon tea, and have some quiet social time for craft or even learn a new one :) 

I had two projects on the go today. First, I finished off my little kangaroo and joey! This pattern was super cute and much easier on the ol' fingers than Captain America was :) 

Zara the cat was highly suspicious though...

I also finished another project - a scarf using this glorious merino mohair yarn that my mum bought for me in New Zealand last year. It's been waiting around for the perfect project, but since I am somewhat allergic to wool (not really allergic, but it makes me very itchy to have it on my skin), it was always going to be a gift for someone else.

I found (and was also linked to by the lovely Anneke of Crochet in Paternoster) this Starwirbel pattern for a cowl or capelet. I loved the stitch pattern, but wasn't confident enough in sizing to make a cowl. So, I adapted the pattern a bit and made long rows of stars! 

A lovely friend on Instagram said it reminded her of Monet, so I have named it my Impressionist Scarf :) It will keep my sister lovely and toasty warm in her early mornings and late nights at work! 

There were 10 of us at Crafternoons today, sitting around and chatting together while working on a variety of different crafts. We had cutting out for Days for Girls shields... 

...and cooking - these were delicious Strawberry Tarts from a recipe by Heston Blumenthal! 

There was also a fair bit of crochet, including: 

Thor's legs! 

A Corner-to-Corner blanket! 

A small mountain of granny squares! 

We had lots of fun, as much with the company and chatter (and delicious afternoon tea) as the relaxing time crafting. I'm looking forward to the next one - a Christmas Crafternoon in December! 

Do you crochet/craft with others? 

Captain Poprocks Helps Days for Girls

Recently my mother and sister came across the charity Days for Girls, an international organisation who provides women around the world with washable sanitary pad kits.  

From their website:

"What if not having sanitary supplies meant DAYS without school, DAYS without income, DAYS without leaving the house? Girls use leaves, mattress stuffing, newspaper, corn husks, rocks, anything they can find...but still miss up to 2 months of school every year. It turns out this issue is a surprising but instrumental key to social change for women all over the world. The poverty cycle can be broken when girls stay in school."

I can't even imagine not having access to safe, reliable sanitary supplies, for something that happens every month! 

Over the last few months, we have been working on sewing the components of the kits - shields (which look like normal panty liners with wings, and have a waterproof layer in them), liners (flannelette squares to be folded and inserted into the shields for absorption), and drawstring bags for the whole kit to go into. We have also been buying and collecting underpants, face washers and hotel soaps for the kits. Here is a pinboard showing what goes into each kit. 

Yesterday we had a working bee with 20 wonderful volunteers to make a mountain of liners for the sanitary kits. We finished over 600 liners start to finish, as well as completing 100 liners that were already partway through the pipeline, and have another 500 started. 

Of course, Captain Poprocks came to lend a hand, and had a very interesting afternoon... 

...hiding under piles of flannelette... 

...learning how to use the overlocker and the sewing machine...

...and crowing over the stacks of finished liners! 

It was an incredibly successful working bee, and we are so very grateful to the wonderful volunteers who came with donations of underpants and time :) 

If you are interested in finding out more about Days for Girls or making a donation of money or materials, visit their website or send me a message! 

There will be a special Global Sew-a-thon on 11 October 2014 to celebrate the International Day of the Girl.  We are still working out what we might be able to do to celebrate this occasion and help this wonderful charity even more!