Howdy Doody

Its been a while hasn't it?

 

I have no motivation to blog and for a while I thought I might give up

 

But I've decided not to

 

As I sit reading other blogs, from people who post every week (or several times a week) I've felt like I don't acheive anything blog-worthy

 

Where do people find the time to do all that baking/crafting/running around after children?

 

Then I realise, I've taken out the baking and children and have only been crafting (that and I don't have children!)

 

I also realised, that while everyone blogged for the past month, I've been out at the beach in my cheap beach house (my caravan) relaxing. Now that is doing something useful!

 

I then picked out all my projects from crafting that I've made since I last blogged (about crafting). There's been quite a few items appear

 

A Cowl -pattern here

 

Another Cowl here

 

I loved this one so much I made it twice



 

 

I then made this cute Cardigan for an expecting mummy

The pattern was in a magazine

I then found out that I made the cardigan a bit too short in the body so I said I would make something else

 

So I made this little vest

and broke the first rule of knitting, I didn't measure my gage

I knit too tightly/small and should have used bigger needles

Now this 6 month size vest has become a newborn size

 

To top it off, I can't find the vest to give it away

I put it somewhere, came back from holiday and its gone

My secret 'it'll be safe here' place has betrayed me

 

While on holiday, I started and finished one sock

The pattern is in the book Knitting Rules by Stephanie Pearl McPhee

 

It was  an easy pattern to follow

I forgot... again... to use bigger needles and now the sock won't fit me

I'm still going to make another one

The pair will make a good present for someone, once I find someone who has smaller feet than me

 

I've now started on this 'Miss Jane' cardigan for myself

I found a problem with it last night and will have to frog it back past the mistake

It makes me want to cry

 

Now since you've probably noticed, I've said I was camping

 

I went to Whananaki

This is the view from our campsite

 

We went fishing at 5am 

 

I caught a big snapper

 

We were circled by a shark

 

Then we went diving

This is JJ

I caught a crayfish

 

There are certain rules when catching these things

The females have to be smaller than males

I caught a female and it was only just too small!

 

It was a great holiday with lots of sun and warmth

 

Last of all, I learned a bit of beekeeping

We had one day at home before going back to work and my afternoon was full of excitement

 

I put on the beekeeping clothes

 

 

I got stuck to them in about five minutes

Especially wearing socks and gumboots

 

Its very very hot here

 

JJ's Grandad showed me what to do and we were away

First we pulled out the frames and put them into the bottom of the bigger box

 

As we did, we hunted for the queen

 

She was hiding and it wasn't until the last frame that we found her

 

I kept pointing to the drones

 

Random bee fact #1 = The Queen does not have black stripes

 

The photo is blurry (bees do not sit still)

The queen is in the bottom half of the photo, she's to the right hand side and is dark orange compared to the rest of the bees. One of the drones is on the top right side of the pic, he's big

 

We then made sure the queen was in the bottom box, put the queen filter on it and put a second box on top (this is so she can't lay bee grubs in your eating honey)

 

I've been told that bees can fill the top box within a few weeks if the weather is good

 

I'm looking forward to learning how to get the honey out of the box and buying my own bee equipment

Its expensive so it looks like I'll be saving up for a while!

 

And now, that I've put everything down like this I do feel as I've acomplished something

 

I've made six big or complicated knitting/crochet patterns (for my skill level) and started another even larger item

 

I went on holiday with a husband who is an 'active' relaxer

Me? I'm a sit on my bum and do nothing relaxer

 

I learned how to move bees from a small beginner hive to a large hive

 

Wow!

 

What have you been up to?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ripple Blanket!!

Right so I had a brainwave, Blogger App!
Searched it, found it, installed it!
Yay!!

So finally here it is:

The Ripple Blanket!!

Well I don't know how this will work.

I'm trying to put the pics between my writing but that's not working!!

Ah well, here are the pics

Photos and Craziness

I usually update my posts in my lunch break or before work, or sometime where I have access to my photos and the internet

Well that just hasn't happened for weeks!

I got a new computer at work that won't let me use the new blogger template or upload photos

Then Husband got an iPad, that thing won't let me upload photos

My iPhone won't let me upload photos

I'm stuck

So here I am, at home working on some slippers ( which are supposed to have car racing stripes, we'll get to that another day ) when all I want to do is share my finished ripple blanket with the world!

And what do you know, I go to the computer, I log in and stupid iPhoto says 'upgrade or die!!!'

Okay I'm lying, it says 'quit or upgrade' 

Now I can't share my photos, have 855 incoming messages and I'm really loosing my patience

So here are some pics that I have been able to access:

Here's my latest diving adventure, we went to the Tutukaka coast, to look for crayfish.

We found one, he was too small

I would have a picture of it, but I let go of the camera and it floated away

Later, while eating lunch in the boat, Husband saw it floating by! Hurrah!!

This is me, at 16 meters deep ( 52 feet )

Here's Husband and I - hows this for a couples shot??? 

And here's the ugly blanket I repaired for someone

Now, before you say anything, I was asked: 

''could you please fix this ugly blanket for me?" 

While I was working on the brown blanket repairing holes and praying I wouldn't break the already thin, very old and worn wool, Husband was setting up the new TV bracket

Miss Holly found the box it came in

And made herself at home

Once my photos are working, I'll be putting up pics of my Ripple Blanket!!! 

My latest WIP

I've been working on something

Something with waves, I think it kinda fits my new diving hobby

Not that I've been out since my course - I'm going diving tomorrow

Anyway...

Ocean - Waves - Ripples - Crochet Blanket

Acutally, it all started when I made my Granny Stripe Blanket

My husband stole it, said it was 'unfair' that I made one for myself and not him

Well, off I went to buy some more wool and found these bright amazing colours

I don't particularly like the Orange ball

I've never been a fan of Orange coloured things ( except Mandarins - YUM !!! )

So I started on a blanket for Mr Unfair

Here is my WIP

 for those who don't know, this means ' work in progress '

Its not finished so thats all you get to see

It will have a boarder and be as pretty manly as I can possibly make it

I'll probably make another one for husband because after starting this one, I don't think it suits him

What.

A.

Shame.

I shall have to make another blanket, and buy more wool

Such torture!

But I will endure

... and I will buy more delicious wool

Muahahahaha!!!!!!!

Green Pig - Oink Oink!!!

Okay so I tried to do a blog makeover

That was a HUGE fail!

So.... does anyone out there run 'blogging lessons'...?

I need some!

Anyway..... here is the promised photo of the Green Pig

 

And of course Easter has just been so I should really say something about my long weekend

But instead, Husband stole the camera

So you'll have to wait for tomorrow!!!

Angry Birds!!!

This week I had a few days off sick

It started out a bit like this, but thankfully didn't get that bad

Someone decided she'd better take care of me and her version of that means taking over my armchair

So blah blah blah, I was sick and all that stuff

But I was bored

I plan on making husband a blanket of his own since he stole mine straight away but as of yet I haven't bought any wool for it

I had another idea

I'd make Angry Birds

Real Ones!

Ones I can throw around the house and say 

"its cause the bird was angry"

So I needed birds

I found some patterns on Ravelry and the lovely lady who designed these patterns even has her own blog 

I didn't ever think I'd get into Amigurumi but once I found some patterns I decided to get cracking

and made the red bird

well why stop?

I need more birds otherwise I'd have to keep getting up to fetch it to throw again so I made the blue bird  

and they look so good together!

then, I decided to keep going

I made the yellow bird

and now they make a great set 

Next up, I'll make the green pig

( or a few green pigs to throw the birds at ) 

and the rest of the birds

Stay tuned to see how I get on!!!

Granny Stripe Blanket

I did it!

I finally finished my Granny Stripe Blanket!!!

Yay!!!

I had a few mishaps, one big one where i missed a whole cluster and had to then go back and work it in - I was NOT unravelling the whole thing!!!

Then, I ran out of pink! Oh the dilemma!

The store told me they weren't ordering more in ''to make way for new season colours"

Well I tell you I was having none of that! 

So I put on my sad face and they ordered it in

Hurray!

This took me 7 months to complete because I had more than one thing on the go

I did get some other items completed  ( and started ) in that time

So here's the photos:

This is it on a double bed

This blankets sole purpose is to be my winter snuggle blanket, thats why its the size it is

 

Its blue, green, pink and purple with yellow edging

look at those lines...

and that boarder

( whoops just released this photo is of the back of the blanket )

aah here's the front

the measurements

153ch to start off

140 rows of trebbles

Inspiration 

My bestie Karen, who started one before me and so I copied her

Kristy

and

Lucy

I also got my boarder from Lucy's fabulous blog

Thanks ladies :-)

My Crochet Date

This weekend has been pretty good

Yesterday, Saturday, my bestie and I arranged for her to come over for a day of tea, biscuits and crochet

It started with me forgetting the milk and the biscuits in the groceries..... whoops!

Anyway, it started with each of us showing off our projects done so far

Here's Karen with her blanket

and here's me with.... wait, I haven't completed anything yet

Haha!

So there we sat, tea, choccie bikes and crochet hooks in hand we worked on not much at all and showed each other our techniques and how we made basic things like granny squares 

My husband was out spear-fishing that morning then got home and took this pic of us when we weren't looking

Then the conversation turned to pets 

I mentioned to husband that one of Karen's cats is called Beef 

( cause apparently she was a chubby kitten )

Then bestie started telling husband all the pets she has.

Horses, miniature ponies, cats, guinea pigs, goldfish

Sadly, one of her fish died this week

So the conversation turned to this:

Husband 'Becky can't keep goldfish alive'

Karen 'have you had fish before?'

Husband 'she did, she killed them'

Me 'they swam too close to the filter!'

Husband and Karen 'Lol'

Karen 'so did you have a them in a tank and everything?' 

( or something along those lines )

Husband 'Yip there's one in the cupboard'

Karen 'you should get some out of the pond and set it up!!!'

So, husband being bored grabbed a giant bucket and headed down to the pond 

 

ooh, look there's some!

yip, I think I got them

so inside came the smaller bucket and we scooped them out

 and put them in the tank

There's four in there

One white, one spotty and two orange

This morning they were still alive!

Then I forgot to feed them.....

Husband gently reminded me and I now have to feed Holly and the fish

Any name ideas?

***All thanks go to Karen and Husband for setting up the tank and catching the fish

I just followed with the camera

On another note, we have about 50 fish in the pond so if they die, replacements are free!

Christmas 2011

Okay so I know its after Christmas but here's my story in pictures anyway

I've been away on holiday, since Boxing Day so I have a good excuse

This is my colour-co-ordinated Christmas tree

Its red, gold and purple

If its any other color, the decorations stay in the box cause thats the way uh-huh uh-huh I like it

This is me, with my scary-excited face on

For present time, I had an idea

My husbands family sits and takes time ( one at a time ) to open presents slowly and make it last ages

My family is more of a ready-set-explode type of whoever ends up last to open a present is the loser

So for my sister in law, I bought her a Tupperware beetroot container. Yawn

Hey, it was on her wish-list so thats what she got 

( among other things ) 

To jazz it up a bit, I hunted around work and town for boxes

This wee box was originally for coffee sachets

and went into this box which paper comes in 

which went into this box for who knows what but my huge stationary order arrived in it at work

which went into this huge box which I sourced from Supre clothing store 

( I got some strange looks carrying it home, those people were thinking "shopping spree" - I wish!!! )

so you can imagine opening each layer and finding another fully wrapped present inside - FOUR TIMES!

and here's the delighted recipient 

 Here's a pic of husband and I during "Family Christmas No.3"

( there were four in total including Christmas Eve night and by the end of the day, we were well and truly full )

 

and this is my brother, trying on everyones cracker hats, because thats what you do at Christmas time

 but I've saved the best for last, because this ladies and gentlemen, is a crochet hook bag!!!

man did I score on this one

my bestie made it, MADE IT!!!

her birthday is in September, I've got 8 & 1/2 months to top this

eeeeekkkkkk!!!!