100th Post

In celebration of my 100th post, I would like to reflect on a few posts. But, firstly I have to say that I am thoroughly enjoying this journey. I look forward to writing posts and the whole blogging process has been greatly beneficial.

1. My a-block-a-week project has been put on hold, due to us moving to the UK and wanting to take a little as possible with us, but as soon as we are settled I will be back to my obsessive knitting habits…
2. In June I made some birthday resolutions and this is how I have been doing…

• I have not been going to yoga and I feel terrible about it! I know that I should have been more strict on myself with this one… In England I will make a conserted effort to get back on track.
• I did not enrol in the magazine journalism course for a few reasons, but I will be doing a freelance writing course in London from 10 January 2009.
• I have dramatically increased my water intake and this was confirmed yesterday by my homeopath.
• I have worked on my Orangebloom brand as promised and plan to start a handmade range once settled in England.

So all in all I didn’t do very well, but at least it’s on my radar and I have a plan to get back on track.

3. My sewing machine is now fixed, I am giving it to my sister, as it is not practical to take it with me to.

4. Pay it forward, I still have 8 months to complete this task, so watch this space…

5. Handmade network – I did a few chalenges and then stopped, it wasn’t for me, I didn’t enjoy it…

• Photography – even though I have a keen interest and my Dad is a photographer, I just can’t seem to get my shots perfect. I have built a light box (note to self: do a post on this) and have really been trying!
• Etsy Shop – I would love to have a beautiful and successful Etsy shop. I have done some planning, but when we are settled in England, this will become a main focus area.

I have acheived quite a bit with this blog, but I have some big plans for the future, thank you for reading my ramblings…

Ps. I love to hear from you, so leave a comment, if you’d like…

Beetroot dye

I have been eating much healthier and on the weekend I cooked organic Beetroot. I have seen others dye wool with natural ingredients, such as tumeric, and thouth that the water that the beetroot was cooked in would make a delightful dye, so I popped in some Elle Homespun wool and let it soke over night.

Well, the colour that appeared was delightful! I love It.

My camera’s battery is flat, but once I have bought a new one I will take a photo of the ball of wool. The pink is so unique.

I will be knitting a beanie (click here for the pattern) with this wool, especially for our mover to Surrey in England. We will be arriving there on 3 November 2008, from a hot South African Summer into a cold England Winter…

Back to School

Although I don’t have children and here in South Africa it is Winter and not the Summer School Holidays, this was a really fun project.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I have started to follow the handmade network challenges. The theme for last week was ‘back to school’.

I made a ‘Book Satchel’ and a ‘Book Cover’. Both knitted using Elle Homespun wool with a thread of butterfly yarn throughout. I absolutely love the end result…

My photos are getting a little better. Last night I built a lightbox, but I need more light and I need to work on my photoshop skills…

I plan to make more of these, so that I can get the pattern 100% and then offer it as a free pattern on my blog…

This is just the perfect size to carry your favourite book.

I spent some time on designing a label, but in the end I just gave up. I would like to use fabric pens to create labels as I tried hand sewing, but that is definitely not my strong point.

I have lined the book satchel bag with white percale cotton. It feels so luxurious. It was the first time that I have lined a bag, so not a bad first time effort.

One last image, just for good measure…

Note books are one of my favourite things in the whole wide world! I love that I have personalised my new note book, it is a little bulky, but it looks fabulous, don’t you think?

A-Block-A-Week

Well, if you haven’t noticed, my little ‘a-block-a-week’ project has come to a standstill. This is because I have gone on some different paths in my life and this project is just not on one of them. I plan to do some other work with this wool that I have already knitted, so watch this space… things are happening in the background.

When life gives you lemons…

I recently found this lovely networking blog – Handmade Network.

Every week  they have a new challenge. Last week was ‘when life gives you lemons’. So I created a yellow knitted flower brooch.

I did not formally enter the competition, but instead did it as a challenge for myself. I am not confident to enter, yet, but will do the weekly challenge.

Let me know what you think…

PS. I desperately need to up my photography skills. I plan to build a light box soon…

Wrist Warmers

On the weekend I finished these wrist warmers, the pattern is from the knitters bible.

Knitted flowers

My latest knitting project…

I used a pattern from the knitters bible.

The wool I used was elle Escapade, River Rafting.

Mindful Knitting

While blog surfing today, as I do, I came across this wonderful website – knitty.com – where I read an article regarding mindful knitting…

In the article Tara Manning talks about the process your mind goes through while knitting. Then I thought about why I knit…

I started to knit because my mother knits, my mother started knitting because my granny knits, and she started knitted because my GG (great granny) used to knit and so on… Its a family tradition.

But that is not why I continue to knit. I knit almost everyday because it relaxes me. It calms my mind and helps me to focus. Although sometimes I get quite frustrated if I am distracted and have to recount or re-knit a row.

Knitting helps me to make sense of life. Even if I am just knitting for the sake of knitting and not knitting anything in particular. I mostly knit infront of the TV, but somehow knitting takes my mind away from the TV and inward, it forces me to look inside myself and helps me find what I am looking for… stillness.

So, I will keep knitting until the day that I don’t need to knit to look inwards. Mind you, I will probably carry on knitting anyway…

I love Wool

My recent wool shopping spree. This could become an addiction…

Wire Works

I have been rather busy this week…

I am having a tea party on Saturday and wanted to do something special for the occasion. So, I decided to knit wire to make napkin rings. I have made a set of 6. Here is one…

Today I get off work early, so I would like to make napkins to match.

I also made a beaded wire flower to match for decoration on the cake.