Catching up!

Hello everyone! 

I haven't blogged much about everyday things for so long - between patterns and Melbourne, it's been a bit busy! Here's a little update on what's going on for me :) 

First, since it has been so long, a Sophie's Universe CAL update in pictures! I love the butterflies and the little plum tulips :) It is also big enough now to keep my knees warm while I work on it - very useful now that the weather is starting to get chilly of an evening. Only 3 more weeks to go!! 

I've also started on a new Crochet Along - Jane Crowfoot's Lily Pond Blanket together with Stylecraft Yarns. I wasn't that excited about it after I saw the initial photos, it seemed very dark. But now that I've made my first set of pieces, it really does look like ripples in a pond! I chose mostly Stylecraft Special DK colours to sort of match the Stylecraft Life DK set colours, but I think my choices are a bit brighter than the Special DK alternates provided.

I broke my yarn fast (again) last weekend at Spotlight's 40% off yarn sale. It was just too good to resist! I discovered some colourways of Moda Vera Bouvardia that I actually like, such as Tokyo:

and Sunset Dive:

And I am definitely excited about getting more of these yarns as they make such lovely Road Trip Scarves for my stall in June :) Fortunately Bouvardia is on sale for VIPs until 10 May, so I just have to get back to Spotlight before then! 

I also found a new Moda Vera Marvel variation called Magic Stripe - it has longer variegations in colour, and I think it works well for these booties! What do you think? I'm about to get started on a blue/green/white pair as well. 

But, our big excitement this week were the huge storms, rain and wind around Sydney and the Central Coast/Newcastle. We were fine here in Meadowbank (although the hot water was off for about a day due to damage to the hot water tanks), but up at the Lake House, things were a little bit different. There were trees down all over the place, they still have no power after 4 days, and the lake overflowed just a little bit! The combination of a king tide and the storm surge meant that the lake couldn't do its usual tidal thing at Swansea, so it got a tad overfull...

See that bench out in the water behind a tree? It's usually about a metre from the edge of the lake... The ducks thought it was all marvellous though :)  

We were meant to be going up there for this weekend to celebrate my mother's and my sister's birthdays, but without power we couldn't have hot showers or even make tea! Kiah and I quickly cleaned out the fridges and freezers, which were already defrosting, and just came home instead. It made for a long day, especially after getting evacuated from Spotlight at Tuggerah on the way! 

Tomorrow there will be birthday lunch at my parents' house - slow roasted pork belly, roast vegies and, by special request, red velvet birthday cake with salted caramel and white chocolate cream cheese icing! Wish me luck with the cake, I've never made red velvet before! 

I hope you are all having a lovely weekend :) Don't forget, if you are interested in participating in the Crochet Between Worlds Christmas Market, send us a message on our Facebook page! We are going to start organising in earnest at the end of May when I get back from the Great Ocean Road Marathon! 

Success at the Sydney Royal Easter Show!

Hello everyone! 

Just a short blog post tonight, but I'm exploding with excitement that I just have to share with you all!!

Tonight was the Preview Exhibition for the Sydney Royal Easter Show Arts and Crafts Competition. You might remember that I entered a Road Trip Scarf, a candy happypotamus (General Millie, Captain Poprocks' future wife) and my Rainbow Twist and Turn Bargello Afghan into the competition. It was my first time entering, so I wasn't expecting anything - just getting my entries on display would have been amazing.

BUT! I did so much better than that! Not only did all three of my items end up on display...

... I won SECOND PLACE in the Crochet Art section for the Rainbow Twist and Turn Bargello Afghan...

... and FIRST PLACE (BLUE RIBBON!!) FOR GENERAL MILLIE IN THE CROCHETED/KNITTED SOFT TOYS SECTION!!!!

Plus, by the time we got to the exhibition, an hour after it opened, the scarf and happypotamus had already been purchased :D :D :D 

I'm still fizzing about the place several hours later, just so excited and thrilled and beaming like an idiot (see above pictures for proof)!! 

THANK YOU all for your support and appreciation for the crochet work that Anne and I create! It gave me the confidence to enter the Show, and I am just so happy with the results! 

Hippos and Crocodile and Sophies, Oh My!

Hello everyone! Welcome to all our new readers, and especially to our old friends :) We love reading every single one of your comments, on here and on Facebook and Instagram! 

Remember how I started a list a few weeks ago to try and keep me on track and get done the things I needed to get done? Well, I finished 4 scarves, my Sophie, and the Happypotamus to enter into the Sydney Royal Easter Show this week! I also did too much housework which has led to me being crashingly exhausted - there's definitely a lesson in that.

The Happypotamus is the new, improved Captain Poprocks style, and definitely needs a name. What would you call it? There's no obvious signs of it being male or female (I've checked), so don't feel restrained on that count :P 

I also got some wonderful feedback from the beautiful mum who ordered the Crocodile Stitch Booties I've been raving about. Despite it being 40°C in Adelaide, the little one insisted on wearing her "favourite gumboots", and would only take them off to sleep if they were right there on the bedside table! It doesn't get much better than that :D

On that delightful high note, here is our progress on the Sophie's Universe CAL for this week!! The roses are absolutely gorgeous, by themselves... 

... and in a row... 

I love the flower "growing" on the short side! 

An artsy sideways shot so you can see all the wonderful textures.

And the full banana! I'm going to have to extend the dining table for the next photo - it is almost as wide as the table now! I had to block it at this stage so that it stayed flat, and didn't just curl up all over the place.

And here is Kathryn's update photo from last week :) She's done a few more rows since this was taken, but this is to the end of Part 6. 

Nicole is up to the first row of popcorns! I love her vibrant colour choices - it's going to be a tropical garden :)

So many photos! I hope you are enjoying our Sophie progress updates :)  Don't forget to comment with your name for the Happypotamus! 

Cross-Craftiness!

I blame the Fox Collection - if it wasn't for the most gorgeous cross-stitch in their last catalogue I would probably have done much more crochet this week! 

Instead, I have devised a system for myself. I need to get one road trip scarf made during the days at home, then in the evening I'm allowed to do something else - be that cross-stitch, working on Sophie, or another project.

It seems to be working for me! I have 12 scarves all ready to be tagged and bagged for my market stall in June! And one more half-way done :) I am really enjoying the Yarn Bee Aurora Borealis Yarn all the way from the USA - not only is it chunkier than my usual 8 ply and so works up faster, it's so soft and squishy. Why can't it be winter already so I can wear one! 

So now that I've done the "work" part of things, here is my new cross stitch :) It's called Winter Sparkle, and is based on a painting by Megan Duncanson. 

Terrifyingly, it has 92 different colours, and 24 A4 pages of pattern. It should keep me entertained for a good long time! 

Today I've also been playing with puffy paint to make the soles of my Crocodile Stitch Booties non-slip. As you can see, I probably should stick to crochet or cross-stitch - my drawing skills leave a lot to be desired! The way this paint works is that you draw on the fabric/material, leave it to dry for 5 hours and then use the hairdryer to make it puff up. I've already puffed the paint on the little yellow ones - the others will get the hairdryer after dinner tonight :) 

No progress to report on my Sophie's Universe this week - I promised my sister that we could do Week 5 together at our Crafternoons@Meadowbank gathering on Sunday! However, she has been catching up to the end of week 4...

And has even started teaching one of her workmates! I am wildly jealous of their Lunchtime Crochet Club!

I am very much looking forward to seeing how our three (very) different Sophie colour schemes work up as the CAL goes on :)