Not quite a show success

Late last year I made a smocked christening gown (you probably remember it), which went into a special division in my local show, which, as a winner, allowed it to go onto a regional final. Winners of the region go onto the Royal Melbourne Show.
The regional dinner and competition was on Friday in Seymour. I didn't go as i had to run kids around to basketball in Kyneton.  I got my gown back on Monday to find I had (AGAIN!!!) won second. I have I think seven seconds now and only one first from the region. (no I am not competitive; much!). 
But, after looking at the ribbon;

I noticed that it had been entered in the wrong section.  It was supposed to be in a section for a sewn garment, and instead was put into embroidery.  So I guess I have to be pleased that it won even a second prize as it does have embroidery down the front but nowhere near enough, i would have thought, to be a competitor in an embroidery competition.  So i am disappointed it was mixed up ( i really thought I had a chance this year), but it was an honest mistake and I would hate for anyone to feel bad that they had made a mistake.  Sadly i cannot enter it into the region next year, it is now ineligible, but there are other shows.

I guess i will just have to start thinking of what to do for later this year.  Out will come the sketch book while I plan (and dream!).

A good day

Yesterday was our 17th wedding anniversary and we had a lovely day; shopping for beds, of all things!
 My husband bought himself a water bed when he was younger, before I knew him, and it is still what we have.  While we still like it, I think we have both decided it was time for a change so we are the proud owners of a new matress and base set.  No1 son is happy, he is also getting a new bed; upgrading from a single bed to a queen size bed. It was going to be a double until we realised that a double bed is the same length as a single and it is really the length he needs as he is 5 foot 9 inches and still growing.
All will be delivered on Friday, and then Saturday i assume we will be moving things around. (Phew, I am tired just thinking of it all!)
We also picked out our new front door (very thrilling happenings in our house!!LOL!!). Our old one has warped and with our extensions two years ago and all the renovating we have a done, a new front door will be the icing on the cake. 
Take away was the order of the day for dinner, after being out all day and neither of us inclined to cook. 
It was a good day and it feels like we achieved something which is always good.

family reunion

My husband is from quite a large family (as opposed to mine who could all fit around a dining table).   The only time we all get together is at funerals so the last time I have seen the extended family was at my father-in-law's funeral six years ago. With family down from Townsville it seemed like a good time to all get together.  So we trooped off to the local pub, had lunch, had lots of chatting and laugher and reminiscing.  It was lovely.
After people had already left it was decided to get a group photo, so here are the ones remaining;

My husband has 22 cousins we worked out on the drive home (and five brothers), and not all of them were there but it was a big group nonetheless.  It was decided that we should do this much more often, but whether someone will organise it each year remains to be seen. 
The night ended up like this:

Standing around a HUGE bonfire at one of my brothers-in-law.  So hot, but lovely.  No roasting marshmellows next to this monstrosity!
All in all a really good day. 

more finishes

These have both been finished for a couple of weeks now but they got forgotten and left out in my last post.

So, to continnue the blue theme (well spotted Dianne and Linda!!!!) this is something I made for fun, and because I thought my DH would hate it (he does!!) and I thought it would be funny:

A toilet doll ROFLOL!!!!! I saw a book in the shop where i work that had it in and i couldn't help myself!! 
And no, i dont usually go out of my way to annoy the hubby but this just tickled my sense of humour. 
Ignore the ribbon at the neck that is way too big, it was all I had and i thought it would do until I found some smaller stuff but I keep forgetting to look when I am out.

My other finish is not as pretty or exciting. It is this; a dishcloth...

It is made with two strands of 8ply cotton, and I have to tell you it works very well. I am very happy with it and can see some being made and put into hampers for Christmas presents.  It did take me two hours to knit, I am not sure if that makes me slow or if it is just what it would take.    I am going to make some more for here too; some in a different colour so I can use it for spills etc and it wont get mixed up with the dishcloth.

I spent part of yesterday knitting the second sleeve for the lovely little variegated blue baby cardigan.  I really want to get it done and get a move along on the socks I am knitting so i can get to some sewing that I want to do. And i really do not want to make a start on anything else until I get a finish or two out of the way. I really have too many things on the go.

catching up

i know, i know, it has, again, been ages since I was on here last.  Life has just been busy i guess and I have been running around like a madwoman trying to keep everything co-ordinated.
It has of course caught up with me and now I have caught my son's cold, which for me has turned into full blown tonsilitis.  Today is day four with no voice, and will be yet another day of trying to get some things done in the morning and sleeping in the afternoon. 

So, just a quick run down for you on what I have achieved, other than getting sick:

Finished this:

A lovely long (just over 2metres) scarf in bamboo (80%bamboo, 20%merino). It is nice and soft and I can wrap it around, and around, and around!!

I started this:

A three month old baby cardigan in Shepherd baby 4 ply. i loved the colour and just had to knit it but unfortunately before I finished I got into a mad frenzy about socks and...

started this...

My first ever pair of socks.  They will be for Dh's birthday in May, assuming I get them done. It took me a little while to get the hang of the double pointed needles and then it was suggested i swap my slightly longer needles for these shorter ones, and they were much easier to hold in my hands. 
I do need to finish the cardigan, it is so close, I was really rather naughty for starting the socks but I got a bee in my bonnet about them so off I hurtled.

No1 son and i have just gotten back from three days away at a basketball competition where he was supposed to be umpiring.  I got sick as we were leaving so it hasn't been a fun weekend for me, spending much of it in a motel room trying to sleep.  And for my son it was a bit of a waste as they had too many referees and so they all only got three or four games a day instead of the eight or so that we have had in the past.  I am sorry but three games is not enough to justify the money it has cost us in petrol, motel rooms, food etc.  I think they need to work out how many they need and put a cap on it.  So it means that in future we will be sending him off to tournaments that are not too far away and will not incur accomodation costs.
It was good though that all the games had umpire coaches so he got feedback after every game and his umpiring will only be the better for that.  So that was a good outcome.  And i have become used to people abusing the umpires and calling them biased. It was quite amusing at one point to sit in amongst some ssupporters and hear what they had to say.  I guess you need a thick skin to do it.

And now it is school holidays. Easter this weekend. Where does the time go?  Maybe I should stop asking this question and employ my time more usefully to get the most out of it?? LOL!!

baby cardi finished

So, here it is...

I am very pleased with the finished product.  There is a couple of things i would do differently next time, but that is okay, life is all about learning.  The opinion at work is that it is lovely (i concur with that!) and the only thing I should have done differently is sewing the ends into the seams and not across the back of the garment. It can't be seen from the front, hasn't shown through the knitting so that is okay.  I will take the lesson and do it differently next time.  Also, one of my front bands was cast off just a touch too loose. It was becasue i sometimes do it too tighlty so I was trying to avoid that and went a fraction the other way. Not to worry. I was told I could undo it and redo the cast off row but I am not quite that upset about it!!!
So it wont be going into any shows later in the year but it will go away for any future grandbabies. 
I started knitting a baby singlet lsat night but pulled it out after nearly two hours of knitting!  I will do it again later.
 I do really want to get to some sewing.  I have a couple of projects in mind so the knitting might get put down again for a bit.

Work in Progress

This is what I have been doing the past few days.  I really do not class myself as a knitter as such, although I can (and do ) knit. I knitted some baby things when I had my first baby 15 years ago and then put it away in favour of sewing which I found I enjoyed much more.
Since starting work in a wool store, i have of course picked it up again. How could i not with so very many lovely patterns and beautiful wools surrounding me every day.
So, this is what i have been playing with.

It is a newborn sized cardigan/matinee jacket (not sure how they are defined??) knitted all in one piece up to the armholes; less sewing up: I like that!  It is in a pure wool baby wool which is nice and soft and machine washable; all good.
I am not totally happy with it.  The picot hemline has been designed with two few rows (in my humble opinion!!!) and the sewn edge on the back can be seen through the top row of eyelet holes.  i have sewn it up just a little below the holes so the picots sit okay and the edge can't be seen.  So that has worked okay.
I am not happy with the instructions for the sleeve; it tells me to do the pattern as given for the back, but the amount of stitches at the start of the row on the sleeve is different to that on the back.  So with my limited experience, I had to try to nut it out and mostly it has worked but I am one stitch out half way up the pattern, which has made the rest of it one stitch out too. A blind man would be happy to see it I guess.
The sleeve has been sewn in, but I hedged my bets as i wasn't totally sure of the right way to set in a raglan sleeve so the front has been done one way and the back another!!  i will take it to work tomorrow and get a professional opinion and take out the wrong way.  i think i know which it will be.

Anyway, that is what I have been doing these last few days.  (Besides staying out of the rain). Thankfully we are not anywhere near any floods and my thoughts go out to those who are.  Stay safe everyone