July 2007 – Knitting Box

Home again, home again, jiggety jig

Market last Saturday was great! I always love going to markets, poking around the stalls, and this time as a seller I managed to sell some of my tote bags. Happy, happy! It was great to be able to see in person the reaction from people as they see the bag, and what a thrilling experience it was to see people love the bags enough to buy them! 🙂

Here’s a picture that I took, with Corrie there tidying things up.

Belinda and Jade did a great job setting up our stall. In the picture there you can see Belinda’s cushions, Corrie’s Japanese fabrics, Jade’s smocks and pram blankies (a bit out of the picture there, sorry), and my bear softies and tote bags. We also had some bloggers visit us, hi ladies! 🙂

You can see more pictures and market reports from these three ladies who were there with me at the stall. All of us did pretty well at the market, and there’s sure to be more markets in our future. Look out for Belinda, Corrie and Jade at Kirribilli’s Art and Design Market in a few weeks time. I’m going to sit this one out and take a breather, and perhaps join them again later down the track.

Next up, some knitting.

31 July 2007

To market, to market

Softies and tote bags for Kirribilli Markets tomorrow.

And look what Corrie brought back from Japan for me!

Some japanese craft books…

On the left is Lotta Jansdotter’s new book, Handmade Project. In the middle is a very cute embroidery book ISBN 4834724212. And on the right is Design collection for kids ISBN 4529042049, another cute embroidery and felt book. I looooove these books!! Will post more detailed photos later when I get a chance.

And some cute japanese fabrics…

Thank you so much, Corrie!! You can also get these fabrics from Corrie’s new shop, www.retromummy.com, which is bringing lovely japanese fabrics, linens, tapes, craft books, etc, to Australian shores! Gorgeous, gorgeous stuff!

Anyway, hope the weather’s good for the market tomorrow. Wish us luck!

27 July 2007

Busy busy

Sewing up some book bags / totes for a stall at Kirribilli markets this Saturday (28 July). If you happen to be in the area, come and say hi! Belinda and Jade will be minding the stall in the morning, while Corrie and I will be there in the afternoon.

The photos above were taken sometime last week, so I’ve made some progress since then. However progress has slowed somewhat since the arrival of the new Harry Potter book. I haven’t finished yet, so no spoilers here!

Knitting hasn’t been abandoned completely, because I still need my knitting. One Jaywalker sock is done, and another is on its way.

24 July 2007

Giving and receiving

Back in May, I won a copy of the Silly Bunny pattern by Melly & Me, just by commenting on their blog. I was gobsmacked, as I had never won anything before. So thank you, Melly and Rosie! I thought the bunnies look cute, and I love how you can use small amounts of various fabrics (great way to use scraps!), as with many of Melly & Me’s other patterns. And now I have my own silly bunny 🙂

Then I won some yarn and DPNs from Yarn magazine‘s Winter Warm-up Competition! Thanks, Barbara! I feel very lucky indeed. The yarn is Rare Yarns ‘Rare Fire’ yarn (alpaca/mohair/merino combo). I’ll probably make these bed socks with them.

And earlier this month I had another meetup with Belinda and Corrie, and I also got to meet Danni from Pyglet Whispers. As usual we had a lucky dip, and I was the recipient of Belinda’s package, which contained a skein of sock yarn and the lovely birdie fabric. And Danni gave us some of her lovely handmade cards. Thanks, girls!

For the lucky dip I made this tote bag, which went to Corrie. I think she likes it 🙂

I love that skipping girl print from Sprout Designs, and the Mollybirds print by Kristen Doran. Close up of the detail here.

Also, I made these coasters for a friend’s housewarming.

It’s nothing original though, I’ve seen quite a few of these lovely patchwork coasters around the blogs and I just love the little patchwork. (There’s also a tutorial here.)

16 July 2007

Squeak!

Uh oh. I blame this book. Those cute amigurumi!! I just can’t resist. Especially when reinforced by cuteness like these. The book is not actually an amigurumi book, but it has some amigurumi patterns and step by step pictures of the crochet stitches. I actually tried to learn crochet a long time ago, I borrowed a how to crochet book from the library but I just couldn’t get it. But now it suddenly just clicked. Must be the motivation factor! Oh, and crochet tutorials online are a great help too! Like the learn to crochet series at Crafty Daisies and the crochet basics at Purl Bee.

Anyway, this mouse amigurumi pattern is not from that book, it’s from here (scroll down a bit for the little mouse pattern).

11 July 2007