ducky house

may

A little catch up on things and life. I hope you don't mind it in pictures. In fact I hope you don't mind that there are only a few pictures. I seem to roll that way right now. My camera has been left behind at home more times then I would like to admit and I can't actually remember when I last took some decent shots of the kids. Ugh! Thank goodness iPhone is helping me catch bits of my day. 

I was thinking about how busy life feels for me right now. I can't seem to keep up with it or find my rhythym -frankly, it's disconcerting.  I keep hoping and waiting for the second surge of inspiration and energy to hit me and daily I find it evading me. Maybe it's cyclical? or maybe I just need to look at life through new lenses. I don't know the answer. I also don't know why things feel so busy. It's not like I haven't always been running with something or another..., perhaps it's the age of my kids now? I find raising little children taxes your energy in a different way - you are exhausted overall and spend a lot of time doing repetitive tasks, but our outtings were always closer to home and more infrequent. With my older kids, they are more independent but guidance & conversation is huge and we seem to have more groups & outtings that involve driving. Though we've made a lot of effort at keeping those things to a minimum, you know the simple life, there are still a few things that have us leaving the house on a regular basis. Blah, blah, blah, I'm sure y'all know what I am talking about.

In search of a solution, I have made some changes at work recently. I have gone from 80+ hours a month to about half that. This past month has been the first time that I am working reduced hours. The first thing I am noticing on my reduced hours is a sense of relief that has washed over me. I feel like I am able to get a few things done around the house that have me chasing my tail and I feel less stressed overall. My ultimate goal with my new found time will be to start cultivating some blocks of studio time just for making, just because. Ahh, the good life - I can't wait! 

Of course no sooner do I reduce my hours at work then I have to pull semi-full time hours this coming week - a commitment I made pre-work hour reduction. It should be okay though. It's part of my job to be available periodically throughout the year in bulk hours when needed. After my week of chaos I will be back to my shortened hours. yay... and some serious making ~ can't wait!  

Photo details: 

~ my girls primping for a party, even miss lily dog got in on the action courtesy of the twinadoes.

~ at soccer: early season games can be freezing, thank goodness the warmer weather has arrived.

~ my self-love gift for those "making" studio times. 

~ mother's day love, the bunnies finally left me one tulip in my yard. They faithfully eat them all, in four years at this home I have never seen one bloom. 

girlie knits

Cute little knitty things for baby M.

Pink booties, is there anything that screams "girl" more then pink booties? The pattern comes from an old Patons book called Early Arrivals bk # 702 - kind of ironic because baby M was not an early arrival. 

My girlfriend recently had her first baby girl, it was joy for her I tell ya. Not because boys aren't special enough for her; she has 4 - yes, you read that right, 4 sons already and she has made sure her sons lives are filled with all kinds of specialness. But for this family having a baby girl/little sister is da bomb - and for me it gave me oodles of opportunity to do the girly knitting I could never manage to get done when I was expecting my twin girlies.

The sweater is a free download: the Abigail Sweater on ravelry.  

The pants are my go-to baby knit pattern: Picky Pants, also available on ravelry for $10.00. I knit these a few years back for baby M's brother P, you can see them here.

The booties are from another old Patons Astra booklet that I had in my collection Patons Astra baby bk # 669.  I'll have more specific details on all the pieces once I get things uploaded to my ravelry account.

vintage pink!

A little something heading off in the mail soon. All saturdays should be filled with vintage pink-ness!

lets here it for the boys

During the month of December from my sick bed couch, I found myself drawn to the sticks once again for comfort in these very craft-less months.  It’s no easy task being without a studio or creative corner to hide in and with most of my fabric & stuff unavailable, my creative projects are small and portable.  

Last winter I had a request from the J-man, for some cool fingerless mitts.  As an avid reader and artist, he likes his fingers readily available for whatever he is working on and fingerless mitts allow him warmth for his hands and flexibility to create.  Call me predictable but what is the point of ever just making one pair, especially when the B-meister is just as busy doing his thing: kicking a ball around the house, playing with lego and all sorts of other (loud) mischief.  

I turned to Ravelry, an overflowing wealth of knitting information and patterns, and chose the Knucks pattern, available in multi-sizes.  Don't fret, if you aren't a member of ravelry, the pattern is available free on knitty.  If you are checking out the pattern, I didn’t do the finger embroidery that looks so cool, only because I needed a break after weaving in all those endless threads that came with making fingers.  I may just tackle the mitts away from my boys to add a few “boys rule” silliness...or maybe not.    

I knit them up with one ball of Rowan felted tweed from my LYS.  They are a lovely shade called avacado, (which reminds me I should be eating more of) and do indeed match the B-meister’s winter jacket, although with the cold and snow we get, one could hardly survive outside with fingerless mitts.  None the less, the natural light does make for a lovely picture.  

These mitts ended up in the boys stocking for Christmas, just a little something extra from the mumma for two terrific fellas. 

bath bombs

I should have published this post over the weekend but I confess to having a weekend of holiday laziness. I love when holiday time can actually be a holiday.

But of course it wasn't completely all rest and no make, I did pull together some goody bags for a family gathering that we hosted on Friday.  After seeing Linaloo's bath bombs, I knew I wanted to give it a try. I made my first batch based off the tutorial that Linaloo linked to, but they were really just way to greasy for me. Mine didn't even hold together in the mold, so that batch sits in a jar for those days when I really need to soak my feet. Which will be soon now that garden season is right around the corner.  

For my second attempt I did a search on the internet looking for bath bombs with the most simplest of ingredients. NotMartha  has a great tutorial with pictures and explanations, I recommend you read through her tutorial for some great hints and know how.  I tweaked the recipe she provided for what my sensitive skin can handle and also for what I had on hand. It is available for download here: bath bomb recipe and also in the side bar.

If you have any questions about the instructions or supplies, shoot away.  Happy Bathing :) 

we are hunters

of a different kind: eggs and chocolate are our game - which suits this girl just fine.

How was your weekend?

ipod cover is going to...

Oops, I meant to get this post up yesterday, forgive me for the delay.  We spontaneously went out of town for part of the day to an aquatic centre to give the kids a break from the winter weather.  It was a good decision since things are going to be downright chilly the next few days.      

Onto the giveaway.  I enlisted the help of miss J in the drawing of names, she makes a lovely assistant doesn't she?  I'll let the pictures tell you the rest of the story. 

Congratulations Karen from Hawaii! Karen's original comment was:

"I am from the US- from Hawaii

I have an iPod that would look great in there!

I like the Olympics but don't watch TV, so it's been awhile since I've seen it."

***Please send me email me your mailing address and I will drop your ipod cover in the post! 

And just so the rest of you don't feel left out, if you commented in the original "news and a giveaway" post I will give you 20 % off the listed price of the ipods currently in my shop PLUS the free shipping until February 28th.  At point of purchase, type in the notes "I commented" and I'll apply the discount.  Over 50 of you commented and there are 7 ipods in the shop so don't wait too long or they may all disappear.  Thank you everyone for playing along :)

Happy Monday, xxx.

news and a giveaway

I did it. I took the plunge and officially opened my etsy shop.  I registered the name back in July 2008 thinking grand thoughts that I'd fill the shelves of the shop with goodies. Hah! that never happened.  Lofty ideas for someone in the midst of huge upheaval (a move and renovation).  Well, I re-adjusted my ideals and the shop has sat quietly waiting to be opened. 

Craft Hope was just the kick in the butt I needed to pull some ideas together and get sewing.  Heck, if I can make items and list them for a good cause (for love of Haiti), I can make items and list them for a good cause (for love of duckyhouse). 

To kick off this new inspiration I am having a giveaway.  The winner will receive a linen (with green vintage) fabric ipod cover - photo below- made by yours truly.  It fits the classic iPod, the iPhone and iPod touch. I started working on the pattern quite a while ago, after a few prototypes I am more than over the moon with this design because it not only holds my iPod but also my ear buds.  Yay, no more tangled ear bud mess, a very important feature! 

To enter the giveaway:

• leave a comment
• tell me what country you are from
• and your favorite olympic sport, if you have none then your favorite crafting sport.
• If you twitter, facebook or blog it, let me know and I'll count it as a second entry...but you do have to let me know.

~ Comment will close mid week and I'll announce a winner shortly after that.~  

continued below...

But it's not over yet, in addition to the giveaway, all items in my shop for the duration of the Vancouver Olympics 2010 - that's Feb 12th to Feb 28th will ship free anywhere in the world.  Shop now

ETA - Feb 18th - comments now closed.  I'll announce a winner over the weekend.

When is your birthday?

My hubby has his birthday on probably one of the worst/best days.  Halloween.  It's trouble for obvious reasons, we spend most of the day gearing up for good ol' trick or treating so "dad's" celebration gets pushed to the background.  Poor fellow.  On the other hand, once you get out on the streets, everyone is dressed up and celebrating so there is this great party atmosphere.  Too bad they weren't all celebrating him!  We never let that stop us though.  On top of all the preparation, we still try to have a nice dinner and a little cake for him.  The latter part, having cake, always feels a bit weird to me when I know we are about to enter the world of endless sweet treats, but it's his birthday after all. 

I have a few things on the go this week in planning for the weekend.  One of which is almost done.  I took some wool to work with me for the s-l-o-w times and knit up the half-pipe hat for the hubby's birthday.  He doesn't complain about much but one of his life beefs is that hats are never big enough for his head.  Uh huh, he does have a big head, I know first hand because I birthed his children ;)  Given that he always has trouble finding a good sized hat, I altered the pattern by adding an additional 20 cast on stitches. The hat is large, very large but I think he might like it that way.  He takes public transport to work and when winter hits, it's cold here, very cold.  He has to be bundled very warm during the commute and that means gloves, scarf and hat.  By the time he get's to work he says tight fitting hats give him terrible hat hair.  Yuck!  I already feel his pain, I hate having bad hair days.  Hopefully giving him a little extra room will help out with these issues.  I still have to finish securing the rim, tying in lose ends and then washing/blocking the hat.  Does anyone have any ideas on how to block a hat?  balloon? 

The other thing on the go is the kid's halloween costumes.  I have 3 to make, the B-meister is recycling a costume he wore a few years ago, bless his heart.  As for the rest I have requests for a rabbit, flower and jubjub costume.  More on those later, especially the last one.  That's it for today, Happy Monday to you all and happy creating! xxx

one frogged, one not

Remember that sweater I yapped about here.  I was planning on frogging the sweater because it seemed to sag in the worst way.  After looking at my options and figuring out time frames, I opted to give it one more chance.  So I washed it, blocked it and then re-evaluated the situation.  Maybe with a little securing and vintage buttons I could fix the issue?  It would take away the option of opening the sweater but in the end that isn't so bad considering the two rambunctious girls that would be wearing them. 

The sweater was secured on the diagonal seams from the inside with yarn and then on the outside (diagonal) seam, buttons were added merely as an eye pleaser, cute and completely non-functional.  As for the green sweater, it was frogged as my original knit up was way too large, I'm not sure what happened.  I mentioned in my earlier post, my first attempt at a re-knit (after frogging) the yarn was too kinky to work with.  I tried steam ironing the yarn but the results were a flat, lifeless, yarn; in the end I soaked it, let it dry and wound the balls for the re-knit.  Second time was a charm in this case, I proceeded to secure the seems and add buttons as I did with the blue sweater. 

The girls have been wearing their sweaters all spring and summer and loving them.  They are so easy to please when you put something new on the shelf, it quickly becomes a favorite and is in constant use. 

It's been awhile since I knit anything and I'm starting to feel the urgings to pick up the needles.  Over the week I've been compiling a list of things I want to make and the sheer size of my list makes me so thankful that knitting is a transportable craft.  At the top of the list is the half-pipe hat, for the hubby whose birthday comes late in the month.  I'd also like to get some knucks done for the boys, a hat, scarf, fingerless mittens set for myself, socks for my mum, socks for ... well you get my drift.  There is always something to keep these hands busy.  How about you?  Do you knit?  and what are you working on?