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! 

Triple Ta-Dah on Tuesday

Welcome to Triple Ta-Dah Tuesday! I have a few lovely things to share with you today, all finished and ready to unleash on the world :) 

Crochet Between Worlds Facebook Page!

Crochet Between Worlds now has its own Facebook page! 

https://www.facebook.com/crochetbetweenworlds 

Head over there and Like the page for notifications of new posts, plus teasers and tidbits that occur to us between posts, plus shares of beautiful and inspiring work from other crochet pages :) 

Magnificent Mug Markers!

At our new house on Lake Macquarie, all the mugs will be the same... 

We drink a lot of tea, and I figure there is going to be endless confusion if everyone has identical mugs! So, using some of my lovely Red Heart Miami cotton and a little bit of internet exploration, I made a set of mug markers :) 

I was inspired by patterns I found online for the little motifs, but adapted them to make them a bit neater, a bit easier, or a bit more straightforward to add the loop. To each motif I added a loop of 30 chain stitches, to wrap around the mug handle. Plus, they are dishwasher safe if we forget to take them off! 

Star: http://mymerrymessylife.com/2013/06/crochet-mini-star-applique-free-pattern.html

Bowtie: http://crocheteverafter.com/tutorials/free-pattern-workshops/bow-applique/

Loopy flower: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/flower-doodle 

The mug markers can also be used on stemmed wine glasses - a colourful, washable, practical way to keep track of whose is whose!

Cosmos Fields Shawl

Last, but definitely not least, I completed my Cosmos Fields Shawl. I proof read this amazing pattern for Zelna of Zooty Owl's Crafty Blog a few months ago, but hadn't gotten around to actually making it!

I used some of my precious Stylecraft Special DK, and it was just a dream to work with. My Ravelry Projects Page has all the details on colours and yardage :) 

The colours remind me of photos of the lavender fields of Provence in France - purples, blues of the sky... It is so warm and cosy too, and very large! It measures 218cm (85") across and 108cm (42") long. 

This is for a birthday present - I hope the intended recipient likes it, and it keeps her nice and warm in her chilly office :) 

That's all for Triple Ta-Dah Tuesday! 

What projects have you finished lately? Put links in the comments for us to visit!! 

WIP Wednesday - Projects update

Hello everyone! 

Wow, what a birthday week! Thank you to everyone who read, participated, entered the giveaway, commented and followed our little blog :) We have a great time writing it for you!

Today I'm just doing a quick update on my current works in progress (WIPs) as it has been a crazy week around here. Not only was it blog birthday week, but... 

Over the long weekend we went up and stayed at the new house at Lake Macquarie for the first time. It was amazing and awesome, and I can't wait for it to be properly finished so I can unpack the kitchen properly ;) My sister has done an amazing job with the design of the house, particularly the interior features like this tiled wall:

Plus the view from the balcony is pretty good ;)

Then, Kiah ended up in hospital last Tuesday having his appendix out! It was caught early which is good, but still required nearly 3 days in hospital, and lots of running around and helping from me. He is still very sore, but the three little holes in his belly seem to be healing up nicely. 

As a result, I am pretty much completely exhausted, which has really slowed down the crochet production (and everything else, but that's less important). Fortunately my parents are back from their conference now, so they are helping with shopping and driving, and the wonderful Beccy, our housemate is helping with housekeeping. Couldn't do it without you all! 

On the good news front, I received my Stylecraft Special DK Packs from Deramores. How will I ever use any other acrylic 8ply again!? This yarn is incredible, and the price I can get from Deramores is about $2.80/100g - just about cheaper than any low quality yarn I can get here. I have started using one colour pack already (see Project 2 below), but I am still musing and plotting over how to make something amazing with the other one.  

Because my brain has been all over the place, my WIPs have been all over the place too. Usually I don't like having more than one or two WIPs as it gets me all fuddled, but these are special times.

Project 1 (a, b, c, d,... so many animals)

Animal orders - so far I have pieces for two candy hippos, one blue and yellow stegosaurus and one black and red dragon! The dragon pieces in particular are very dramatic - I think he's going to be one amazing beastie when put together :) Since I enjoy joining more than I enjoy making the little African Flowers, I am collecting up little baggie sets to relax and join later! 

Project 2

Cosmos Fields Shawl, pattern by Zooty Owl. I am loving this yarn, and these colours! Reminds me of lavender fields in Provence :) It is for our housemate Beccy to keep at work for when she gets chilly about the shoulders. The pink workbasket (for details go here) is just the perfect size for this project! 

Project 3

I was inspired by Atty's Woven Crochet Block to create this prototype heat pad for the new house, to protect the tables from hot saucepans and trays. Maybe next week I'll write up how I did it, so you can have a try too! Or maybe the week after. 

(excuse the ends not tucked in yet...)

What are you working on this week?

Round and round in circles - Mandala time!

I've been a little bit naughty today - supposed to be working on the order list, and hunting down kitchen equipment for the new house at the lake, testing a pattern for a friend... but instead all I wanted to do is play with my new cotton supplies that arrived yesterday! 

It's Red Heart Miami, 4 ply 100% cotton, from loveknitting.com. Such vibrant colours and reasonable prices! 

This colourful cotton is to make pretty and useful coasters and heat mats for the house my parents are building at Lake Macquarie. My mission sent me hunting for good coaster patterns that show off the lovely colours, while also being the right size and shape. It took me ages to find one that I actually liked, and when I tried the pattern, I just couldn't get it to look neat :( 

But then... hunting through Zooty Owl's blog for other things, I saw some of the amazing mandalas she has designed. I haven't really been interested in mandalas before - I like the things I make to be practical, useful or good to cuddle, and the contexts I had seen mandalas in before was as art or just being beautiful. Mandalas are round though - could they make good coasters and heat mats? 

Absolutely!! Above is Zooty Owl's Sunny Flower Mini Mandala in two sizes - 10.5cm for coasters, and 21cm for heat mats. The coasters are made with a 1.5mm hook and one strand of the cotton yarn, and the heat mats are made with a 3.5mm hook and two strands of the yarn. I also washed and blocked the heat mat to make it sit nice and even :) 

Sadly, as you can see in the photo above, the orange dye ran a little bit being washed and ironed. I am a bit reluctant to wash the pink yarn now. Any ideas on how to stop the colour running in the finished piece?

I'm really looking forward to making a whole stack of the little coasters and some more heat mats in this pattern. Plus, I discovered Zooty Owl has a table runner pattern using the same mandala! House decoration solved :D 

Have you ever tried making mandalas? What have you used them for? 

Finally Finished... Tuesday?

It's been a wet few days in Sydney! We are just never happy here - either it buckets down with rain and we complain about the wet, or it doesn't rain for days on end and we complain about everything being too dry :P

I know it's only Tuesday, but I have been trying to clear up my WIP (works in progress) pile and fiiiiiiinally have a stack of things to show off :)

My dragon is finished! Isn't he adorable??

Plus, I managed to finish my Stained Glass Afghan last night! I used JulieAnny's Stained Glass Afghan Square pattern for the pieces, joined them with double crochet in aqua (single crochet for any American readers), and then edged it with a dc row of aqua and then back-loop-only trebles in black, to make the aqua row stand out. I'm really happy with how it came out! Plus it is so thick and warm :) 

The sun came out for just a few minutes today, especially for me to take photos for you!

All my scarf orders are up to date (so if you want to order one, now is the time). I am also experimenting with more colour options, including this one called Jewel Mix:

Isn't it dramatic?

Road Trip Scarves

As mentioned in my last post, I recently discovered Zelna Olivier's Road Trip Scarf, and have absolutely fallen in love with this pattern. 

Perhaps too much in love... here are the first four!

I am loving the Moda Vera Fayette, although the thickness of the spun yarn was quite inconsistent for some balls. Mostly this just added great texture to the scarves though!

Since putting this photo up on Facebook this afternoon, I've sold all four and taken orders for more - it seems they'll be pretty popular :) If you're interested in buying a Road Trip Scarf, I'm selling them for $30 plus postage. Head to my Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/wrappedwithlovebymichelle) for all the details about ordering.

And just because I can't resist, here are some closeup photos of the scarves :) 

Bits and bobs

Hello everyone! I'm so sorry it's been so long between drinks - we had our holiday to Vanuatu where the internet access was very limited, and since our return I have been either too tired to do anything, or madly organising a dinner event for work. Phew! 

There is a post on its way about Captain Poprocks' adventures in Vanuatu, but I am still going through all the photos to make sure I put the best ones up here ;) He is still in hibernation anyway - possibly recovering from his kava experiences...

Here are a few projects I've had on the go for the last few weeks:

1. In Vanuatu, I decided I needed a macro-crochet project - something made on a hook bigger than 1.5mm! I fell in love with a stained glass afghan square pattern by JulieAnny (pattern can be found here), and it worked up so so nicely using some 8 ply variegated yarn left over from another afghan. So far I have done all of the "stained glass" pieces; now to just finish the colour frame and put them all together!

However, the finishing off has been put in the "to do" basket for now because...

2. I just could not resist the amazing HeidiBears' new DRAGON (!!) pattern! I wanted to do something a bit different with the colours, and was inspired by a CanToo star giraffe my mother is making. The pieces are exactly the same as the usual African Flower, but with the colours in a different sequence, so they make stars:

He's coming along pretty well - just needs his spines (which are almost all crocheted) and wings (which will take a bit longer). The dragon will be on sale with Wrapped with Love shortly, but he will be $100 rather than $60 as he has three times the pieces of the other animals, and has taken me a solid week so far! 

I'll probably get the spines on before Smaug goes into the "to do" basket as well, because...

3. I have absolutely fallen in love with Zooty Owl's Road Trip Scarf. I have seen so many beautiful pictures over the last few weeks! Isn't it just gorgeous!

When I got my Spotlight catalogue and found that the Moda Vera Fayette (a lovely variegated wool/acrylic blend) was half price, I knew it was meant to be. While it's possible I went slightly overboard on the purchasing, I got $160 worth of beautiful yarn and stuffing etc for $110, which is a pretty good deal! Here's my loot with my trusty rainbow bargello bag :) 

So, hopefully over the next few weeks I'll be able to get at least one of these projects finished :) I do also have some orders coming up for Wrapped with Love, but it isn't too busy at the moment if you want to get in early for Christmas/birthday orders for your little ones (or big ones!). 

On a final note, at the fancy work dinner on Thursday we had the most gorgeous table arrangements of Australian native flowers, and I got to bring one home. I am so lucky to have these beautiful flowers decorating my living room this weekend :)  

 

Coming soon - The Adventures of Captain Poprocks: Melanesian Magic!