Summertime Blues

It's sunny again! after a nice dose of fog. Fog until lunchtime, now there's something you don't see every day! i was almost expecting zombies to shuffle past or something. why yes, i do connect everything to horror movies, why do you ask? :)


You would think university being back would mean less crafting. actually, the exact opposite happens - i feel the need to craft more, simply because i shouldn't be. as soon as you tell me i should be doing something else, i am guaranteed to want to pick up the knitting.


Thanks to the help of my friend Claire, i figured out what was stumping me about my lace shawlette chart - basically, i was reading it wrong. i've never done lace before, and this billed itself as an intermediate pattern, so it's my own fault really. So, i need to frog what i already have and start again, this time without just making things up when it doesn't look right.

What has been keeping me from that, however, is this:





yup, i started cross stitching.


I have done a little before in the past, but got bored easily - all those tiny little stitches never seemed to turn *into* anything, and don't even ask about the back of my work!



After getting sucked into the flickr group for http://www.subversivecrossstitch.com/ i decided i really needed to give cross stitch a second go, and managed to find the book on trademe for a pittance. It arrived yesterday, and i've already finished my first piece, so it's satisfying my need for immediate gratification quite nicely! This piece is for one of my best friends, who is returning from a jaunt in Ireland next month. The next piece will be a design of my own for the other best-friend-returning-from-Ireland. (i really need an acronym for that. BFRFI?)


Maybe after that i'll do something a little less offensive for my nephew. I'm currently toying with the idea of one fish, two fish, but let's see what i can get done before the end of the month!


What i do already have for Flynn, my nephew, is this:












The most gorgeous little picture book i've ever seen. and i work in a bookstore, so i see a lot of books! It's sweet and simple, about a rabbit and his "not-a-box"; all the fun things you can do with a box! i happen to know Flynn likes his boxes, so i think this is fairly appropriate. also coming are a crayon roll and owie bag from http://felt.co.nz/browse/user/cattaylor, with little trucks all over them. All of that is going in a nice brown recycled paper gift bag for Flynn's first birthday. i'm hoping my sister-in-law will let Flynn draw all over the bag with his new crayons, and use it for a gift bag for his grandma or something - i'm trying to be that eco-friendly gift person, in the hopes i can influence them without being nagging or self-righteous. I don't want to make them feel bad for buying new things, or things made in china, or disposable things - i just want to show them a few other options, and how cool those other options can be!


How do other people introduce or encourage other being to be thrifty or sustainable?

Finally, to go with the sunshine, some flowers.









Made for the Slip installment for the Winter Garden at the end of this month. i never managed to pick up any of the sponsored wool, so i hope my stashbusting wool is suitable! i had great fun crocheting these in ad breaks and while cooking dinner. :) 14 in total, i could have done more, but wanted to actually post them off in time for them to be useful!


Now that the fog has lifted i might walk down to the supermarket. Hooray for sunshine!