Long Berry Pink Scarf

I liked the stitch from the purple baby jacket so much that I used it for this scarf! This is my post for Pink Saturday hosted @ How Sweet The Sound.

I edged the ends with 3 x 5 treble (American double) clusters. I still have heaps of this colour left over and I figured this stitch would make a nice patterned scarf. I was wondering if Shelly would like it to go with her new hat, but I didn't get it finished in time. When she comes back here, she'll be on her way back to Darwin so hardly a reason for a scarf living there! maybe my mum would like this, as the hat she might like is also made from the Berry Pink mix.

Interesting that David's sister lives in Darwin, and so does mine, but David and I didn't meet in Darwin. But both of our RSVP photos were taken at Darwin beaches at the weddings of our siblings in mid 2006. Both brides at those weddings are school teachers, and both grooms are mechanics. Uncanny, isn't it? I think of David as my angel sent to me by the universe when it figured it was about time to send me a fair go! We were meant to meet, if not in Darwin, then somehow sometime! Now my life is complete. /awwwww

Be sure to check out other pretty pinks @ Pink Saturday.

Pink Doilies my great-grandmother made

These are a pair of embroidered doilies my great-grandmother made which are edged with pink crochet. This is my post for this week's Pink Saturday hosted by Beverly @ How Sweet The Sound.

I remember these from my childhood. My great-grandmother was so very talented with this, there are many samples of her work in our family, these are the few I have in my possession. My great-grandmother (my mother's mother's mother Margaret) embroidered these, as well as the crochet edges. These two are starting to show signs of age, and I know they look like they are in need of an iron, but I dare not touch them!

Here is another doily, this one my grandmother Beverly embroidered. That is my mother's mother. The fine embroidery is so lovely, I hope one day to improve my skill with this, but I don't think I will get it this good.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these two samples of our very special family treasures made by my great-grandmother, and my grandmother.
<3 <3 <3

Be sure to check out other pretty pinks @ Pink Saturday!

Seeing Pink

Throughout my life, I've owned several pairs of rose-coloured glasses. What started off as a performance costume item become something of a 'statement'! This is my post for this week's Pink Saturday which is hosted by Beverly @ How Sweet the Sound.

The first pair of pink sunglasses I bought cost me $10 I think, and it was an impulse buy. It was during a period of time that I was collecting brightly coloured items to add to the performance costumes for my children's entertainment group called the 'Tootee Fwoots'. My business was often employed to provide family entertainment, mostly by the city councils in Darwin and Palmerston for 'Fun in the Park' days and events, and sometimes by the shopping centres and sports clubs for their family days.

One day, my normal pair of sunnies broke, and I couldn't bare to go out into the daylight without a pair, especially in Darwin after I'd had a late night! I did have this pair of rose-coloured glasses, so chucked them on. I loved how they made the bright cloudless blue sky a pretty shade of lavender, and decided I should make a statement! During the day I was working as an early childhood teacher, so I needed to stay positive and chipper and these glasses were just the ticket!

Eventually, my first pair of pink glasses broke, but I kept one of the pink lenses as a memento. It now lives in my small blue trinket box where tiny special memories are collected. After I bought the first pair and fell in love with them, I tended to buy any cheap pink glasses I came across. I think the pink ones here with the thick plastic frames might have only cost me $5! I still have these two pairs left, but I don't wear them any more. But I think it's important to remember that period of my life, when I was free and brash. Some people thought I was a bit strange for wearing pink sunglasses, but plenty more people understood what I was saying, that it was a tongue-poke at a silly world that took itself too seriously.

Now, I think back to the time when I used to wear pink sunnies. It was a good time, but there does come a point when we must take off our rose-coloured glasses to look at the world and accept it for what it is. I am learning to sit with it, look at it, not to buy into it, not to argue with it, for the world is as it is. But sometimes, seeing the Pink is not a bad thing either, and good to keep in mind, to come back to and remember.

Be sure to check out pretty pinks @ Pink Saturday.

<3 <3 <3

Two Berry Pink Hats

I bought 5 balls of this 'Berry Mix' Lincraft DK wool last year for my birthday, thinking I might make a simple rug with it, but of course that hasn't happened! This is my post for this week's Pink Saturday blog party hosted by Beverly @ How Sweet the Sound.

I made this flower hat one evening while watching some television, the final episodes of Bones and Castle to be exact! I call this hat a 'flower' hat because I started it off with a small 6 petal flower. Each petal is a cluster of 3 trebles all pulled together in one stitch, each petal is then separated by 3 chains. Then I work out in flat rounds, increasing slightly each round until it was just slightly smaller than my out-stretched hand. Then I used the shell pattern down the sides as I did with my wine coloured beanie. This pattern usually makes hats smaller so I was careful to make sure this hat would fit an adult.

This is now the 3rd rose I've made like this to make into a detachable brooch to go with the hat. I still had to refer to Rachel's pattern at Crochet Spot as I haven't yet memorised it. I highly recommend Rachel's website if you are in need of some crochet patterns, its very nicely set out. Just remember her patterns are in American crochet, not English. The cost of the wool I used for this hat and matching brooch was less than $2, and I used a 4mm hook.

Using the same wool I also made a hip-hop cap following the pattern in the Crochet 08/09 booklet from Lincraft. I didn't check the gauge so that might be why this hat turned out a bit on the big side, although I'm not sure if it's meant to be like that! It didn't take me long and I whipped it up in about 3 or 4 hours while we watching tv and David was cooking.

I hope you like seeing two more of my hats, this time they are Berry Pink! And be sure to check out other pinks at this week's Pink Saturday blog party @ How Sweet the Sound!

<3

Some selected highlights from this week's party

• inspirational home-made mosaics @ Anne Fannies Green Acres


• new party goer's pretty quilted handbags @ Kitty and Me Designs


• create from the heart @ Heart of a Wizardess


• Heaps of Inspirational Craft Areas, just a small selection of the wonderful spaces at this week's party
  eg.
  Someplace in Thyme
  She's Sew Pretty
  Creative Chaos
  Studio 48 Tango

Tiny Pink Treasures

When I went to the Salvo's store a couple of weeks a go with David, I picked up a couple of special pink treasures! This is my Pink Saturday post for this week, which is hosted by How Sweet the Sound!I had already looked on ebay for some miniature doll's tea sets and found they were a bit overpriced for my very modest doll collection. I remember when I was little, I was given a couple of tiny doll's tea sets. I'm really sad I haven't been able to keep any of them. I did treasure them for a little while, but as a child I lost them or they broke. Then I saw this set for just $1! This tiny tea set is part of my Barbie's Pink Tea Party setting.
Also at Salvos, David spotted this small bag of cheap crochet cotton. Well spotted, David! Most of you will know how expensive new crochet cotton can be, but I picked this up for a total of $2. I'm really keen on that unused ball of pink, it's the perfect shade for something special! And it hasn't even been used, what a bargain find! I've already made my first small pink doily with it, which I use as a doll's coffee tablecloth.
Using the pink cotton, I also made these special tiny pink scuffs for the flat footed Barbie I gave my niece. They were very easy, I just pierced some black plastic vinyl with a large sewing needle, then used those holes to crochet tiny straps to form the top part of the shoe. Easy Peasy!
Thanks for stopping by for my Pink Saturday post this week, be sure to check out the other great pinks at How Sweet the Sound!
<3 <3 <3

My selected highlights from this week's party

• the most gorgeous pink shoes I've ever seen, complimented by a well placed tattoo @ Do The Shoes Match My Purse?


• beautiful pinks, included a doll in knitted pink and pink crochet edging @ Miss Bee's Haven


• a special wedding blog party to look forward to @ Angelic Accents


• Pinkalicious flowers @ Simply Susan!

Operation Pinkify!

Oh no, my new phone only came in black, Horror! This calls for an urgent operation to Pinkify right away! First, we needed to find the parts and found them for cheap on ebay!
They arrived in the mail today, so David set to work to operate on the offending black casing. He soon discovered there was a little trick to it so searched youtube for a tutorial.



Buying a pink casing turned out to be cheaper than buying one of the pink phones in the first place! Thank goodness the black is replaced with some cute Pinkness!

Also arrived this week is a surprise for me in the mail that David ordered. What's this? Its a pink gaming headset! Isn't it gorgeous? Now I can be a Hawt Gamer Chick in Pink Style!

The pink microphone is detachable which is good for me because I keep breaking my mics when I have to plug them in the front of the pc and the wires get caught in my chair wheels. It was pretty expensive too, I hope I don't break this one!

For more pinkness check out Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.

Recommended new blogs from this week's party

• Heart of a Wizardess - beautiful and inspired!


• Blogging While Waiting -from a home-schooling mum of seven children!


• Two Crazy Crafters - posts about Barbie on Wednesdays

Beautiful Pink Roses

These are two beautiful pink roses that David's mum Beverly brought from her house. She lives alone near Ballina in NSW, and grows her own fruit, veggies and flowers, including roses, all the while working as a nurse at a local nursing home. I think she said this species is "Tiffany". I particularly liked the fragrance, so I hope we could grow me some of our own! These smelt so beautiful and were so lovely to have in our home, I made the petals into a pot pourri.

Also, outside my front door are some very pretty pinks flowering at the moment. I'm not sure, but they might be a variety of native lilly pilly.

Yay for PINK!
Go to How Sweet the Sound for more details on Pink Saturday.

Recommended ...
Five Minutes Just for Me
Another local blog, this one is a mum who lives here in Brisbane, Australia

Two New Blogs for this week, highlights include a vintage pink telephone and a Pink Princess Suite!
Teacupstitches and A Cottage Muse

What Pink means to me

It wasn't until after I left my first husband and found myself living in a strange city after living in a small town for 23 years, that I remembered when I was a little girl my favourite colours had been pink and silver.

Somehow I forgot this while growing up and studying at university, fervently avoiding anything pink, dressing all in brown, black and navy with stripes, never anything frilly, accompanied with gold jewellery. Because I had to take myself oh-so-seriously, I was terribly grown up and professional! Then I started to develop a fancy for strawberry flavoured milk of all things, how strange! I never drank that stuff before? I found myself referring to it as "Pink Milk" and felt a need for it every now and again. Then there were the pink milkshakes, and I started to remember as a young child my favourite flavoured ice-cream had not been chocolate at all, it had been strawberry. Ever so slowly pink started to creep into my wardrobe when before this shade had always been shunned. In my old life, the colour most represented in my closet was black. Now, thankfully I've been working hard to fix that, although I still do have far too many black shoes and jackets ...

Pink for me means a return to 'me', remembering who I was and what I wanted when I was a little girl, when I was  not concerned with how other people saw me. It was my pure, untainted  self, free of expectations. Pink for me is more than just all things girly and pretty, its more than getting in touch with being female. Its about surviving the trauma of a broken marriage, grieving my hometown which I loved dearly but simply had to leave in the end, its about getting away from all the things I thought I was expected to be, a modern professional career ice-woman, and just starting to enjoy life for what it is.

Blessed Be All Things Pink! see more pink stuff on my blog >>> PINK
This is my first post for "Pink Saturday"! For details check out "How Sweet the Sound" at http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/