A New Home for my Blog

My husband has been helping me decide where to put my blog, we're thinking it might be best to put it on Google as that is where his blog is!

It certainly seems like a lot of work to move a blog around, it would be best if I found a spot and stayed there!

As a test, here is a photo pf Thomas's very first certificate, which I've been meaning to post! It was for Sing & Grow last year, when we went to some sessions with a music therapist, It was great and we even have this cool certificate to show for it! How good is that?

The Wooden Blocks Pa Murphy made

Here are some simply delightful wooden blocks, and a special red and green wooden train made by Pa Murphy as a gift for Thomas!

the wooden blocks Pa Murphy made

Isn't this collection of wooden toys just lovely? Its so much nicer than the mass produced blocks you buy from the store. All the more special are these toys because they were made for Thomas by his grandfather. These are something you would want to keep and treasure, and hopefully pass on one day, because no one has anything quite the same as these wooden toys. I'm not sure where the wood came from originally, but I think these are at least some what environmentally friendly because they were made from scraps of wood from Pa Murphy's workshop. For something like this you really shouldn't buy any wood especially, as any tiny bits of left over scrap wood of any shape will do. These were lightly coated with vegetable oil so a very nice, environmentally friendly toy for Thomas!

two small wooden toy cars by Pa Murphy

Another reason why I like these toys is because they are a classic and timeless toy that doesn't have the branding you see everywhere nowadays. As much as possible, I'd like to help Thomas learn the true value of things, and not according to if they have some recognisable logo or image on them, as hard as I know that is going to be!

Definitely an addition to my collection of hand crafted family heirlooms! Thankyou Pa Murphy <3

My New Year's Resolutions

Last year, I didn't have any resolutions, other than to survive my first year as a mum! The previous year my goal was to learn more about crochet, to try and learn how to read patterns. Well I did that, and my baby son is doing very well now too, so now its time to think of a new goal for the new year!

my collection of fine coloured crochet thread

My goal for 2012 is to use up as much of the yarn that has accumulated around here as possible! I hope to make lots of useful items for friends and family, and perhaps try and sell some things on ebay. I really must try very hard not to buy any more yarn! I'm sure I have a lifetime's supply here already!

My other goal is to sell a lot of other things on ebay, things that we don't need or use and no longer have room to store. Our flat is pretty small and its made to feel smaller than it is with all the clutter. My goal for this year is to stream line my house, ready for a possible house move at the end of next year.

Of course, my other goal for the year is to be a good mum! I want to get Thomas into music lessons, and to take him swimming more. And we need to do some more socialising, too!

I think it's useful to start the new year with a new goal, something that is achievable, and something that you will enjoy doing. A feeling of accomplishment is important as we look back over our past year, especially for people like myself who don't work at a job. Even if you don't achieve everything you set out to, it's good to celebrate the gains you have made, even the smallest ones.

What are your new year's resolutions?

Handmade 1st Birthday Card for Thomas

Thomas turned one nearly a month ago, but we've been so busy catching our breath after a very busy Christmas season, this is the first chance I've had to blog about it!

This was our first 'proper' Christmas with Thomas, as his first Christmas was spent in the hospital nursery, and I was still in hospital that day myself. That's why we decided we should make an extra effort this season, and visit everyone in the family, which we managed to do, except for seeing my sister and her family in Darwin. We hadn't gone anywhere all year, with Thomas being so small I didn't feel confident enough. So Christmas was a very busy season for us indeed this year, and we've decided we should spread things out a bit better next year so it's not so overwhelming!

One thing we can't change though is Thomas' birthday, which is on December 14th, right when things start to get busy. We had to have a party of course, in fact we celebrated all week with visits from family and friends spread out so our small home would not be too crowded in case it rained. Thankfully it didn't rain! My mum came to visit Thomas on the day though, and brought gifts and this very special handmade 1st birthday card.

I just adore my mum's handmade greeting cards, don't you? They are so special. I'm trying to convince her to try and sell some, I think they might be popular!

Our Potted Garden, Spring Update 2011

Every spring I like to do an update on our potted garden, to look back and see what has survived the winter. Each year, we're learning which plants are worth investing effort so we get as much enjoyment out of our garden as we put in. Here's a link to last year's update. During last summer, our baby son arrived 2 months early and I was also very ill, so our garden was severely neglected. But some plants really hung in there and have perked up after some recent tender care. The pumpkin and chamomile didn't survive the winter though, and a new addition that's been a success so far is the capsicum!

BASIL
I still have the three bushes of all-year-round basil. The eldest just doesn't seem to want to give up, I keep removing the flowers, it keeps going on. Last summer the basil was very neglected and ended up very scrawny. I pruned it harshly, and now the three bushes are looking much better, even the eldest is still producing fragrant leaves. This is a surprise, as it must be 3 years old by now. The second season of sweet basil that the landlord Rose gave me finally died, but David's father gave us some basil seeds planted in a pot when they last came to visit. These are now sprouted and David has planted the biggest of these into pots, we now have several new sweet basil plants for this season.

CAPSICUM
We collected some seeds from some capsicums and planted them in some pots. The strongest of the seedlings were planted into bigger pots, three to a pot. Now they are growing  fruit for our cooking! David keeps up the seaweed fertiliser on these, as with all the other flowering plants, to encourage them to keep fruiting and stay healthy.

CHILLIES
We've discovered to keep the chillies really happy, they simply need to be re-potted into new compost rich pots every year. We had several 2 and 3 year old plants that were looking terribly miserable and sure to die, we replanted half of them and they have done amazingly in a very short time. There are 3 very small 2 year old plants left that are in desperate need of a re-pot, which we hope to do this weekend. Even when they are scrawny, they still keep producing the red fruit so we always have some for our cooking. David's father gave us a new variety of chilli plant, which now has its own large pot and is doing exceptionally well and is full of white flowers.

CHIVES
When the garden was being neglected, the chives suffered from a terrible case of a pest infestation, we think they were tiny black aphids. David had to spray them several times with pyrethrum until now they finally have perked up to their former happy selves. The problem though is that I'm guessing its because of that they haven't flowered this year. Hopefully they will flower next season so we don't loose our crop. David's father has also given us some new chives, so we should be ok.

LAVENDER
After I pruned it last year, it has grown back and is flowering nicely, but now has some more branches growing in odd directions. It looks like it needs another prune, but I'll wait till after the summer to do that. No cuttings of this bush have ever taken, so I still have just the one plant which is now 3 years old.

MINT
The mint was not happy at all after last summer, we lost the lemon balm and also the peppermint that was in the same pot. Luckily I had some peppermint in another pot and that is going fine. The mint looked awful, so we bought a special pot for it, a self watering one, because it really wants to be in the sun but also to be kept moist. Now the mint is doing great! These mints all used to be in hanging pots, as well as the strawberry, but we've given up on the hanging pots. They were the kind that has a coconut fibre lining which turned out be way too dry, all the moisture just seeped right out. The lining has been thrown into the garden for the birds, in case they want to use it to line their nests like they did last spring, and the metal cases are stored in the garage. Maybe one day we'll live somewhere where they'll come in handy.

PARSLEY
I don't know what to do with our parsley! Its become very thin, with just a few individual plants, it doesn't seem to be reproducing. It was supposed to flower and seed, which it has never done, and some of it is now 3 years old. David's father has given us some new parsley so hopefully that will grow a bit better. Its so sparse at the moment that we can hardly use it in our cooking.

OREGANO AND MARJORAM
I still only have the two plants, one of each. They are looking very modest, but at least they survived last summer! They are now out in the sun with the rest of the plants. We've put all our pots where they can get rain, so no more pots under the roof. The oregano and marjoram are still in the same small pots on the shelf, which is now by the fence where they can get some sun.

DWARF LIME TREE
David's mum helped him prune the lime tree when she visited us in the summer. This spring, it has sprouted shoots all over, even in the bare section that's persisted all this time. Last season we did get a few more limes than the 3 we got the year before, and these got used in David's cooking, mainly his spaghetti and meatballs. We lightly top dressed it again this winter, as we were just not brave enough to prune the root ball. Looks like it is doing fine without us doing that!

ROSEMARY
The rosemary is doing so well that I decided to invest in two new big pots for them. These plants seem very tough and managed the major neglect just fine! They were just kept in the sun the whole time, had good drainage, and didn't complain at all.

ROCKET
Our amazing crop of rocket seeded in the winter, and we just finished collecting the last of the seeds. We have many, many seeds from the rocket now, it did so well. Now we don't have to always wait for the rocket to flower and can keep up new crops for eating. I'm looking forward to making some salads, instead of just having rocket on sandwiches.

TOM's GARDEN
When David's dad visited us, he brought with him many seedlings from his home in Stanthorpe where he grows his own food. He also made a special planter box for Thomas with all sorts of plants in it, like beetroot and broccoli. There is lettuce and spinach, which we eat and there is plenty for us, as well as David has used the shallots in his cooking. Its busting with plants right now, and is a great addition to our potted garden.

Small Cream and Wine Pentagon Lap Rug

I'm not sure how useful this item I finished yesterday will turn out to be, it's very small due to the amount of this wool I had. But it was so nice to make, I had to use it all up to make this small rug. It could be used as a baby rug, or maybe a small lap rug.

star shaped lap rug in cream and wine coloured acrylic

I've known for a while, I'd really prefer to make items using yarn that is locally grown, spun and dyed. This way, you can reduce your carbon footprint - its better for the environment if we use products sourced locally. Before I saw this yarn, any attempt to source something like that was way over priced in my opinion. But I found some assorted blends that were on special in Lincraft, which were from the Wangaratta Mill Shop. This may include synthetic fibres, so they are blended with local wool, but spun locally. I even found a local spinners site that sells drop spindles if I ever buy some raw local fibre.I've already made a beanie for Thomas using a sea green yarn from the same Wangaratta package.

the star lap rug is the perfect size and shape for our rocking chair

This thick yarn has a nice, soft feel and it was a pleasure to make this small rug. But it is a bit small to be very useful, as I only had 3 balls of this type. I used a 7mm hook to make the stitches large and the rug quick to make up.

In other news, I sold my first item on ebay today, my old queen size mattress! We got a new mattress after Thomas was born, and my old mattress has been taking up room and had to go so I started bidding at .50c hoping someone would come and get it, and they did! The experience was a positive one, so I hope to sell a few other things from around the home that need to go. Who knows, maybe I can sell some crochet projects as well?!

Colourful Scrap Rug for a Toddler

This rug started off as a pile of scraps given to me by my mother last year, and is now the second rug like this I've done. I'm hoping it will be a useful rug for Thomas.

I really enjoy making these rugs. The material is not expensive, you can pick it up at op shops or find it in your own craft cupboard, and it's satisfying to turn balls of left over yarn into something that can actually be used. I enjoyed making the first one so much I called it a 'therapy rug'! There's no pattern to the colours, the only rule is whenever I change yarn it's a different colour to the last. It's therapeutic because there is no stress at all about the design, it just comes down to a decision at the moment it's time to pick a new colour.  And the idea of these rugs is to use up all of that left over yarn, that's why there are not finished rows, rather they run into each other like spirals until the yarn runs out. Then I choose a contrasting colour to continue. This way there are no little bits left over at all.  That's why this is much better than making a rug out of small granny squares sewn together. And I find sewing all those squares together at the end very tedious! For this rug, I used a 4.5mm hook, so not too small so it doesn't take too long.

The first thing to do is sort the balls of left over yarn according to size. The very smallest ball of yarn is the one you want to start with, next choose a contrasting colour that looks to be amongst the smallest of the balls left. I've even resorting to weighing the balls on a small kitchen scale! This way you get the spiral effect. I'm rather proud how this one turned out, the pattern is quite nice considering there was little planning in it. It's good to know I have something useful to do with all those annoying left over balls of yarn!

To catch a dream (three small things)

The last two weeks have been surreal to say the least, like a walking dream or day-mare. Some thoughtful soul gave this special beanie to David to give to me, it's what Thomas was wearing in the photo that was taken on his first day. Someone even printed up the photo so I could have it in my room. I didn't see Tom until the second day as I left the ICU to go to the maternity ward. I clung to this special little yellow beanie during my stay while I was away from my baby, I even imagined it smelled like him! I give thanks to the person who made and donated the beanie, and to the person who took the photos of Thomas wearing it, and also to the person who thought I might like to keep it when our baby went into the humidicrib and no longer needed to wear a beanie.

While we were in the maternity ward, on the meal tray was a paddle pop stick. We guessed they were meant to be for stirring tea and coffee, which we thought was a waste of wood. Imagine throwing all those not needed paddle pops away? What a waste of trees! So I collected a few and made some into dream catchers to pass the time. When we left the maternity ward and David went home to sleep, I told him to take the brown dream catcher to place above his bed. It is meant to be for good luck in catching your dreams so they can come true. I learnt how to make these from school, you just weave wool in and out, around the sticks.