ho ho ho hat

ho hum... bah humbug... I don't care...

Ho ho He he look at me

"me more cherry!!!!!"

The kids were harping on about a Father Xmas hat.

I hate acrylic felt - so I made one out of red linen triangle (50cm base, 45cms high) cut on the bias (diagonal grain of fabric) with a side seam down the back + some white cotton ribbing (50x 7 cms) + a doodacky pom pom me wipith upith.

It's solstice tonight. So I think I might

go have a beer outside, while its still light.

today - I (re) learnt....

That my sometime confidence belies a great deal of shyness.

That just looking at lemons makes me feel healthier.

That I must get back into that habit of having half a lemon squeezed into a glass of water every morning upon rising - it feels so good.

That one bottle of Lemonade is too much in the bellies of a 2 and 3 year old and should be shared - not one each (or they will burp endlessly and won't eat their lunch)

That on a hot day, a mac's pilsner straight from the fridge is a very good idea.

That drinking said beer under the sprinkler is an even better idea.

That cut-up milk containers make for the best tiered fountain.

That hummus always looks best in a wooden bowl with paprika sprinkled on top.

That porridge doesn't look so good 6 hours after it was made, but the kid will still eat it.

That cacti look great in german pottery.

That bottle brush are quite christmassy.

That stainless dutch water pitchers by stelton and travel cups are beauty to behold. (I'm collecting them.)

That the kids are going through a growth spurt not unlike the beans and every time I turn away and look back again they have shot up some more.

beach babes

Snapped at Sumner during school hols. Hipstamatic is proving very addictive!

3 dinosaurs and a laptop

Stegosaurus likes to stop and smell the flowers.

Tyrannosaurus has a soft spot for ice creams.

Protoceratops is afraid of mice.

...I thought they needed a little humouring.

Stencils are from this book- a crafty gift from Grandma.

More about Pebeo pens here

A good stencil bush like this is recommended to prevent bleeding under the stencil.

Cheap laptop for sale... anyone interested?

stan the man

This is what happens when you're naughty. At least this is what happened to Stan The Naughty Fimo Man. He got tossed into our diorama prison and was left lying in a bed too small beside a blocked toilet. Was it an crime of passion? A robbery or sorts? The word on the street is that, I quote "he stole our money and used all our water and smashed our car up and smashed up our house too"

This recent stint at model making was prompted by a visit to the historic Oxford jail. The boys got to see first hand what these formidable jails they have heard so much about really look like. I was reluctant to explain that now days they have access to t.v, sky, junk food, drugs and a higher education, just in case it started to sound appealing.

The Fimo modelling compound we used to make Stan's hands, feet and head out of, is like plasticine, except it sets hard when it's been baked in the oven for ten minutes. We put holes into them first so we could stitch them onto the rest of his body, which was made with some bits of scrap wool rolled up into tubes. We inserted wire into them to make them bendy.

You can read a bit more about Fimo here, we're awfully fond of it.

Crusket boxes are easy to come by round these parts, so we cut one up along with some corrugated cardboard and painted them with poster paints to make the jail. Matchsticks were used for the bars on the window with plenty of PVA as always. It was a pretty quick and crude set up that took a couple of hours tops.

I am happy to report that I am getting some good mileage from it though. The addition of police cars and a zoo full of animals are making for some pretty interesting dramas being played out.

Actually, considering how tired I'm feeling today, it looks like the perfect place to get some peace and quiet and clock up a whole lot of sleep. I think I'll rename our villain Lucky Luke, set him free and get myself into some serious trouble.

kids and cameras

On why you should let your kids loose with your camera occasionally.

They sneak mine when I'm asleep. And I love the surprises they snap.

boy scarf

Imagine the delight if you will, for a knitting Mother, when her 5 year old son decides of his own volition, that the time has come for him to embark on his first (of many -hopeful) forays into knitting. Yes, it's the stuff of dreams I know. He implored that we must go forth

immediately to 'Knit world' so that he could pick out the exact type of soft, bright sky blue wool he had in mind. He was vehement about these details in the way children are and repeated them too many times over.

Continue imagining then, the pride and joy of wool shopping with the 5 year old first timer, the luck to happen across the perfect blue wool with just a smidgen of smokey grey woven within. He ...'was actually looking for one with a bit of grey in it too, you know!' he declared this at decibels loud enough to melt the hearts of all the old ladies abound.

The choosen wool was Patons Inca x 3 balls. That evening we cast on a simple 24 stitches with 7 mm needles and in a knit 2, purl 2 forming rib went about our merry way over several weeks until it was 1.5 metres long. Did I say merry way... errmm not quite...

I was determined that because he had committed to learning to knit and because I had invested in the wool, that I would only knit following a stint of him knitting also. That said, sitting and knitting with him meant that at times I was actually holding and moving his hands for him. If he held the needles himself it was akin to watching Andre The Giant attempt cross stitch or watching the Tin Man do yoga. His wee arms were like concrete and his fingers would get the wobbles and shake so he slipped stitches and he breathed very loudly with his tongue out! Yes, it was painfully slow. I think in the end he may of tallied up a modest 10 rows in total and after he had done his bit, he would always say that it was my turn to knit while he was in bed or while he was at school.

Imagine still, the slight disappointment when he announced upon the completion of the epic scarf, that he would only be wearing it in the weekends. Meaning he didn't want to wear it to school. And then in the weekends, it was always too warm to need to wear it. And I think he may have mentioned the dreaded word ITCHY.

But at least now when he is engrossed in watching me knit, I know that there is a new found appreciation for the kind of dedication and commitment and patience it requires. And that my friends, made it all well worth it.

unruly

She has such unruly hair - not behaviour, thankfully... at least not today. Not from her anyway.

Like that of a mohair goat, sometimes frizzy curly, other times ringlet curly... but never tidy.

So, after much experimentation with all sorts of silly hair accessories and much worrying about where they had gone and whether they had been ingested or not, I've decided to give these homemade Alice bands a shot. They seem to be doing the trick so far.

We will cross our fingers and hope we don't have to cut her some weird curly fringe thing to keep these curls with a mind of their own out of her big blue eyes.

kindy bag

I made "The Big Kindy Boy" a backpack to cart his Scooby Snax and spare undies around in.

I added a cool car to it as a clincher and hopeful insurance against the likelihood of some bad ass little snots out there suggesting to him homemade ain't so cool.

The straps pull through drawstring style and there's a simple front pocket I divided into two, where he can stuff his stolen crayons and crusty play dough projects.

I have sewn from this book several times since buying it.

Very straight forward, easy to follow and jam packed with sweet ideas.

But then Lotta is a total talent babe and oozes all that Swedish Scando style.

He doesn't usually look like a ghetto kid, least not from the front! And he doesn't really steal crayons. That was me.

the perfect glider

This is why I want a better camera...

and maybe a lighting kit...

This Paper Plane was apparently designed by the Chinese.

I can't say there is anything obviously Chinesey about them (I might of guessed Japanese since they invented Origami) But to their credit they do fly fairly directionally...

I would love to have a go at a German or Italian designed one. I might google search that!

Perhaps this is the beginning of a new hobby...

All from this book. Another Op shopped find I've had tucked away for a rainy day- as was today.

Happy Paper Plane-ing.

This site is fanatical

and this one is pretty good for basic variations.