Teacher pressies and swaps :)

I was silly enough that I didn’t take a photo of the pressie we gave Seth’s teacher this year doh! but once again all hand made

I made these up for Nina’s and once upon a time Seth’s preschool teachers A Santa deco each for their xmas tree and a reindeer cookie. 14 of them all

We do a yearly xmas swap on one of the wee forums I am on and this year this is what I gifted

Handmade felt, handspun wool, a wee keyring purse, a wee clutch purse, some yummy chocolate drink, 3 handmade felt faces plus handmade lipgloss

and there was also a reindeer candy cane plus these wee guys below reindeer cookies ( no they are not gingerbread men with breasts ) lol

 

Here is a piccy of the reindeer candy canes of which each person in Seth’s class received one at the end of the term, one way to jazz up the humble candy cane

Wow busy much

Lol that time of year where things are just super crazy!

I have been busy making balloon balls, i spy bags, beany bags and many many other bits and pieces for pressies and swaps

I can post some of what I have made and this is only a small selection the rest you will have to wait for until those who are to receive them have opened them

These wee jandals were made for a swap with some other extremely crafty ladies I know. I wanted something kiwi and summery rather than something winter like most decos we get in this country

Hoping all those that received them liked them

Nina’s hand sewn quilt still a major work in progress lol

So what have the kids been up to!!!

Well Nina and all her preschool friends went on the annual animal farm trip.

  

Nina’s Bunny Rabbit she drew all by herself

Seth preforming with his year at the Xmas on the field. Kids had a blast this year, bouncy castles, ice cream, candy floss and friends! <3

One beloved teacher

32 Seth’s class at School since he started

One day we decided that we would photograph our walk to school, I think its a case of Seth wanting photos that he can look at when we move

So here is what we do most mornings if mummy isn’t feeling lazy and drives to our walking school bus stop

This here is our pit stop to pick up any walking school bus kids and take them to school. This day there happens to only be us lol ( which isn’t normal)

Nina’s preschool

Seth’s classroom

I went along to help with an art project that Seth’s class was working on for a silent auction it was fun helping the kids out

here is the end result! ( that is mummy and Seth dolphins there )

I have done other things with Seth’s class this term a trip to TGA girls for a show they put on then down to the park its been fun helping out

Last week Nina had her preschool show which was seriously cute!

Nina was a star

Nina and her Best Friend

Last minute cupcakes for my nieces 8th birthday hmm only if they would all look at the camera and smile lol!

Oh and a bit of this the minute the mount beach opened!

( The Rena is still sitting out there and so far mother nature has been nice and not given us any seriously nasty storms to break the ship.

Containers are coming off the ship which is awesome, those guys working out there in those conditions need damn medals! esp for getting all that oil off!!!! I think only 2 areas of beach are still closed off a HUGE credit to all those locals and those who gave up their time to help in some way or another to clean our beaches  )

I will do another update in a couple of days of a walk we have just been on

My Baby turns 3!!

Hard to believe that Nina is now 3 and at preschool!!!!

Here are some piccies from her birthday she decided she wanted a Jandels birthday cake ( for those overseas these are know as flip flop or thongs lol ) The most easy cake I have had to make in some time lol!

Nina blowing out her candle, Nina and her friend Sophie in the playhouse, friends and family, and Kylie and Meleane ( who happens to share the same birthday as Nina )

Nina opening pressie from Nana Jo and Popa

 

On her birthday itself I asked Nina what she would like to do I got Donald’s and beach

 

 

Rena was out there on the reef that day ( was 2 days after it hit the reef) our beach was beautiful then! hopefully son we will beable to go to “our” section of the beach

And that night when went to Mc Donalds for dinner so she was one happy girl

 

During the school holidays we got a ph call to say there was a space for Nina at Seth’s old preschool when I told her she went and got her bag and was ready to go lol but she had to wait until the start of term

She had an AWESOME day yesterday she already knows the place inside out from when Seth went there and all the teachers said she fitted in like she had always been there

An update

I will write later about Nina’s 3rd birthday party and the fun she had with family and friends but at the moment I am going to bring to attention something that has happened here in the Bay of Plenty. I am not sure how many overseas people read here but I know in some countries this hasn’t even made the news

 

5th of October 2.20am beautiful beautiful spring weather with clear calm seas, Residences of Tauranga, Mount, Papamoa, Maketu and Motiti Islanders to wake up to the news the Rena had some how managed to plant itself on a well know well charted Astrolabe reef . Heavy engine oil spewed out of the ship. It was thought that the oil would reach beaches on the Wednesday but it hit on the Monday. Our beautiful white sandy beaches and beautiful clear blue water was black black black. On Thursday after making muffins to take down to the Papamoa domain to give to those helping clean up the beach I video a wee bit of our paradise

 

Horrible heart breaking black oil waves crashing in on black beaches and the strong smell of oil like a newly tarred road

People got out in force and clean the beach after each high tide as been, in just a few days our beaches almost look like they had no oil on BUT the ship ( circled in the piccy above) still remains on the reef with approx 1300 tonnes more of that oil on board and the ship after the movement from the tides and storm we had is not far off breaking in half

I know everyone it this area just wishes our beaches were still like this and that we haven’t had to face this disaster, but the community spirit to get out and look after our beaches is amazing

One day they will return to this!

These were taken on the 7th October 2 days after Rena ran a ground ( Nina wanted to go to the beach for her birthday )

 

 

 

 

And the kids on the 8th we went to build sand castles

(Rena is above Seth’s head)

Today

I am grateful for seriously old things  

 

That stop my finger ending up like a pin cushion lol

 

This Silver Thimble was my Great Nana Mabel’s.

I bet she never thought that her Great Grand Daughter would ever use it

 

Busy week of making

Wow this week the crafting bug hit hard lol poor knitting has taken a back seat big-time

 

So to start Girls and birthdays hmm what to make well all the girls I know of have long hair so hair bling was in order. All the flowers have tuts on them I found them all on Pinterest

 

 

Tried my hand at zip flowers pretty cool!

 

A ball balloon for the boy with a birthday yes finally the replacement ball balloon for that first one I made lol!

And order for a teacher wee bean bags fully machine washable gotta love that now!

 

Oh and I made these up quickly for Nina so she can make cups of tea for Nan Nan and Grandma

 

 

I have also made another I spy bag and another ball balloon as a thank you gift today I do have another flower to show off I will when Nina isn’t busy in the doll pram lol

And one for Seth

Its Rugby world cup time in this part of the world! I Never thought Seth would be into rugby but boy oh boy that kiddo wants us to win the gold cup lol so mummy did this today to keep him happy to show he is supporting the All Blacks. Flag atop the playhouse lol

 

Its been funny walking around the streets here seeing all the flags going up in random places. Guess I am one of the few ( who doesn’t care for rugby lol )

Pinterest

Wow that is one website that will suck you in for hours as if I don’t have trouble with ravelry already lol!

So pinterest is cool you join up wait for your invite set up your “boards” of interest place the wee “pin it”  icon thingee on your tool bar and anytime you see something you want to do, think its useful etc you pin it so easy so instead of adding it all to your fav on your computer for them all to get lost lol they are all there laid out before your eyes on Pinterest and the worst bit add friends and see what they are pinning loll!!!

 

So after spotting a few pins last night I had to make something

 

First up was a pin of a bird mask. I knew Nina wouldn’t go for the bird look lol So when went for a mask of purple and pretty pink flowers with crystals

 

Next up something educational for Seth he is pretty good at fractions but this will help him “see” what is happening with them

I didn’t have any fabric paint here so nice having my Mother in law just around the corner who owns and runs Art of Craft so paid a visit and came home with some ranger enamel accents they worked beautifully

Another year flies by

After some thought I have now decided this will be the home of all my blogs, kinda over having a blog for each child and a craft one to keep up with lol so my kids were crafted by me lol so there will be updates on them here now too

 

Wow I now have a 6 year old how on earth did that happen?? apparently telling him he isn’t allowed to get any bigger is a crime lol I get told off if I say sorry your not allowed to get big teehee

So here are a few piccies of the cake, party and wee item I made Seth.

It was a Mario party cake didn’t turn out how I wanted thanks to kids interrupting all the time

Table with half the food on it lol

 

The Goomba piñata which yeah broke with one swing.

One tried to make changes lol the last time we made one it had too many layers of

paper and was seriously hard to break so this time I use less but forget the kids got older and stronger lol

Hanging with friends

Climbing around

The wee party favours I made fimo princess peach crown rings and Mario mushrooms to hang of the bags for the boys

The big 6 year old

 

Now this 6 year old LOVESSSSSSSSSSSSS gaming so this mum did some surfing to find something I could make he might use lol and came up with

this A case for his DS and little clear pockets for his games

 

Another friend of mine made a comment about not having a cover for her kindle. Being a kindle owner myself and knowing how lost I would be without mine if something happened to it I set about to make a case to surprise her with

Amy Butler Fabric and all

 

Another wee thing I have wanted to have a go at making is Balloon Balls. I had one little boy in mind when deciding to make this. I made one up was hmm about it, then I made one for Nina, but when Seth got home he wanted one too so he got the one I was hmm about and fell in love with it, the next day he took it to school to show  his teacher and she fell in love with it so I made her one lol and I have yet to replace the first one that was meant for the little boy. Gotta love them put the balloon inside blow it up and ta da! Bounces like a ball and if it pops the pieces stay inside and not all over the floor

 

Oh Seth had a birthday party to go to the weekend before last once again handmade pressie an I spy bag

 

Think that is it for the moment can’t think of anything else I have managed to finish lol but ideas for the next lot of birthdays is already spinning around in me head

Wow yeah I know lol

Ok so this year I set a goal for myself, I wasn’t going to go to the shops to buy a damn birthday present for anyone other than my own 2 children lol! I have yarn, I have fabric, I have dye and I have the skills and machines to do it all with

First up was an eye spy bag for one of Seth’s besties ( didn’t get a photo of it but here is a filler Seth’s mate got one with a pirates and a treasure map fabric)

Then came my nieces birthday, Payton requested a warm hat, scarf and some gloves ( sadly no photo of the gloves)

                            

A Friends little man was turning 3 what better way to upcycle some fabric, fancy jeans and warm fleecy pants made ( oppppppps no photos)

Seth was then invited to a party ( a girls one even )with 3 days for me to make something ugh! Pretty buttercup bag pattern purchased ( so one now has the rights to make and sell them lol ) and some button hair ties ( had to use some of my Amy Butler I can’t let it sit there just to drool over lol)

A beautiful wee cardy for a very cute little girl we know from playgroup

Next up another od Seth’s besties birthday he is getting Lego for his birthday so what better to make than a Lego drawstring mat!

shhhhhhhhhhhhh its not his birthday until the day after Seth’s

Sorry not so great photo

Ohhhhh this one was for the lovely Amy!

Hand spun merino/silk then I knitted it up into this cute wee shawl for Amy

Love love love the shine the silk gives to the yarn

General random Koha’s ( gifts)

For my friends daughter who was over cold hands in mild winter we are having! I made some for Seth first to test out the wee pattern made up of a couple of patterns ( since apparently 8ply mitts patterns don’t exist on Rav lol)

Reminds me I haven’t put these up on rav yet teehee

A random shawl I knitted with no one in mind for it, until my sister spied it lol

This next one is a very special Koha. On the 22nd of Feb 2011 at 12.52 a huge quake measuring 6.5 and only 5km deep hit Christchurch one of our main cities here in NZ 85 lost their lives and thousands made homeless. A group started on facebook called knitting for chch. I joined straight away there was something little I could do other than give $$ being so far away so I knitted up these 2 wee adam singlet’s to be sent to chch. I have plans to knit more when the time allows

This one not so much a koha but for a swap

A dear friend wrote the pattern up for this garden city ( Chch’s other name lol) and all the $$ raised from selling the pattern went to chch. I knitted it up for a dear friend who lives not far from chch and I knew she would love the hand spun merino to keep her toasty during winter)

  

This using some of the same hand spun that I used for the garden city shawl was made for Seth’s teacher. We were meant to be moving north at the end of the first winter term but then plans changed ie house nowhere near ready lol) so we gifted it to her early. Only to have her visit her mums house and left it on the couch, her mum knew she had left it on the couch and said nothing secretly knowing she wanted it lol) hopefully one day soon Alex will be able to steal it back off her Mum teehee

My dear dear dear Friend Katherine was getting married earlier this year as per last year with Charm getting married and knitting her a shawl I knitted one for Katherine

(looks like I have blogged about it tough you get to see the beautiful Bride wearing it this time )

       

                                                                                                 Photo copy rights with Brett Stanley

A cute wee Summerlin for a cute wee little girl who shares the same birthday as my Nina <3

Birthday cake for the wonderful, caring and lovely Emma

Ah now this one I made last year I don’t think it made it on here

Playgroup required us to buy something for our children so that Santa could give them something. I refused to buy something cheap for Nina so quickly made this doll up for her ( its now named Santa dolly teehee)

There are a few other things that should be added to this list but won’t be till later in the year I will put them up on rav because I know they person they are for isn’t on there

Ok other randomish things

Spinning on that beautiful wheel of mine ( and I love that it is all made in Tauranga my wonderful home town )

N plied merino

Something new from Vintage Purls Sock pencil roving!!!! yes with the nylon hiding in there it was a DREAM to spin

This fibre was gifted to me by a dear friend Lisa <3 standard 2 plied

Corridale

More yummmmmmmmmmmy VP merino not sure why they say its hard to spin I find it a dream to spin lol

N plied once again

This one I gifted and stole the photo since I forgot to take one ( hope you don’t mind Lisa lol)

More yummy merino teehee

Knitting

Hmm a lonnnnnnnnnnggggggggggg list

Mutter mutter remind me to NEVER knit items like this in lace weight again! its still waiting to be repaired for the 3rd time *sigh*

Yes that is right hubby your mug is on here

Pencil sock roving all knitted up yum yum toasty toes!

errrrrrrrrrr um yeah me teehee

Beautiful test knit i did for another dear friend Kelly!

Pst this photo made it in the final pattern twice!! YAY!

The next bit is a sneaky at something I have written up yeah I know its still not up on rav it will get there at some point

So there ya go the year up to date lets hope the blog can handle it

If you want any details on the knitted items head over to ravelry.com sign up and find me under the username Neak

Enjoy

Neak

Check out

Check out the give away over at Sew Many Stitches Later

I sux at even thinking about keep up here lol

Well such is it that life has got in the way of blogging even the kids blogs remain in a sad state.

Anyway a couple of things I wanted to share

This is Pettine a gift for Seth’s first Primary School teacher ( and who he has again this year lol). She loves green the same as Seth so he hunted through my yarn box and dug this green out for Miss Bulter. Knitted in Sock yarn the second photo is the true colour

This next shawl is for a dear friend for her wedding. Sadly it being at the other end of the country prevented us from attending

so I have no idea if she loved it or used it lol never mind the thought was there

Damson

Once again in sock yarn. I had a feeling I would run out of yarn before the boarder so used another purple yarn I had and

over dyed the whole thing a bit of a colour difference but I think it looks great

While being blocked

There hasn’t been alot of other knitting happening due to this new baby

gotta love that this is made in good old Tauranga! go Majacraft! and gotta love that they are just down the road from my nieces school

My Mum paid them a visit before xmas and this was waiting for me xmas day!!!!

She ( Suzie) is a dream to spin on!

Anyway a slack update, but an update none the less lol

Its been some time

Sorry I have been absent for some time.

I have been crafting, knitting, spinning and sewing but getting time to update here is few and far between these days

 

Hopefully over the xmas break I will beable to do a wee catch up of sorts

Rainbow Spotting

A wee activity the kids and I do on and wet semi sunny day. We go rainbow spotting.

We didn’t have to go far to find this one

I hand dyed this up as a blank, sadly the yellow got eatten by the green, its not perfect thinking maybe I sell it as a second hmm

Gradient Yarn for sale!

These are hand dyed my me

8ply 100% Perendale wool ( so warm hand wash only)

Purple is just over 100gram  and the pink is 98grams

$14 each (pink is $13) plus postage $4 untracked if you would like to buy these with you credit card in NZ sing out I can load an auction onto TM for you, same goes for the blanks or leave a message here and with your email and I will be intouch

Green SOLD

PINK SOLD

Its been along time I know

I am sorry for the HUGE delay in posting what I have been making life is busy when doing the parenting thing on ya own bar a few weekends when DH is home

Any wayyyyy the reason for this post is I am now knitting up and sell 8ply blanks

These are AWESOME if you love dyeing gradient wool but hate the mess of little bags or containers everywhere

To show you a transformation

To these

To these

These blanks are on my for sale page up there

Am bad

At trying to keep up here at the moment life is alittle crazy and will be for a few months to come

Right where to start:

Ok back in jan we went up north for a quick trip on the way we stopped in at our dear friends place to say HI! upon arriving my dear friend Charm showed me all the goodies and pieces for her coming wedding YAY! She had a shawl she was going to wear if it got cold in the evening of the wedding, I didn’t feel it was going to keep her that warm, so a quick order with the wool company and some cream 4ply and about 10 days later you get this!

The swallowtail shawl

TWC cream 4ply

Sage beads  ( because I was lazy and didn’t want to knit the nupps)

4.5mm needles oh and the pattern which is free I might add

I did knit this bigger than the pattern ( I did 19 repeats) as I wanted it to be big enough for Charm to snuggle up in if need be if you are on Rav you can find the info for making it bigger or here

Goodness trying to think what else I have knitted in that time

Ok Dad’s socks number 1 of 2 ( number 2 still needs to be photographed need feet to do that for these socks )

Scrummy yummy Yarn from Morag at Vintage purls called Bears bunker one of her standard yarns These socks are the same pattern which I knitted up for Scotty last year. And so help me it seems I loaded the pic to Rav from the computer and I can’t find the photo on here so a teeny tiny one from Rav and probably blurry

Um alittle cupcake making

Easter cupcakes for Seth’s preschool teachers

Then the Rainbow birthday Cupcakes

And the inside

There is some sewing to upload but I will leave that until another day

Undies!

Well I think its been a week since the last update. I have been busy

Firstly I finished off a pair of Cookie.A Kai-Mei Socks for my MIL

Then I got busy knitting Nina a Leafy Shrug ( sorry its a Rav link its the only place I can see you can buy the pattern)

The sewing machine has had a bit of a work out the last day got inspired to make some undies for Seth The lovely Leanne sent me a copy of a pattern she had

Seth declared that “Mummy you can make me lots and lots and lots!”

These are both made with cotton/Lycra and up recycled elastic from falling apart undies we had here

One Herniated Belly button which should be fixed this coming week, all going to plan and Seth doesn’t get bumped off the op list again

I have also finally made a minky Nappy! the lovely Zeta off TNN gave me 2 beautiful pieces minky in exchange for a huge rubbish bag full of girl clothes The first one was put on the bum before I got a photo so will get a photo at another date

Trial run

There is a birthday coming up for my little niece She loved the cupcakes I did for her sisters birthday party last year and wanted some for hers

Apparently Rainbows are cool, and she wanted rainbow cupcakes. So I had to make sure my recipe would work out and looking at these beauties

Now I need to learn how to put 3 different coloured icings in the piping bag to make rainbow butter cream

I used the smaller cupcake cases rather than the big ones I love using as I think the small ones will have enough food colouring to drive some mums up the wall

Oppppppppppps time does fly

 

Well the needles have been busy over the last month and a bit  I had to go back through all my pictures to find out what has come off the needles in the last wee bit

In no particular order

My Lovely friend Kelly has put out another dishcloth pattern and I am in LOVE! The pattern is called naked. Its a funky dead easy knit! and super quick to knit up. My new fav me thinks!

Another dishcloth not one of Kelly’s this one is called Chinese waves

These were gifted to one of Seth’s lovely preschool teachers for giving us some of the school uniform he will soon eeeeeeekkkkkkkkk be wearing! and mummy doesn’t want to part with $300 for a primary school uniform!

Next up SOCK CLUB! YAY!

And in record time 5 days

In love with these Morag had included beads in this socks and the bit of sparkle rocks! The photos don’t show the beads up the best they are on the inside of each of the hearts

these are called Heart of Glass

Next up more socks

Morag released her Blue Sky Baby pattern which was part of last years summer sock club and I knew it was perfect for Jo so hit the buy now ( which you can do via Rav or via VP

The yarn is also one of Morag’s beauties called Buttercups

So here we have buttercups under blue skies

This pattern is awesome some new features I hadn’t tried before ( gusset increasing on the sole of the sock and a French toe easy easy easy

French Toe

Gusset Increases on the sole of the heel

And a photo of the patterning

Hmm next up Bloom! I finally got around to knitting it up for Nina

Knitted with Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply Luxury yarn. This is the medium size and is a little big on Nina but you have to  love room to grow ( then again missy is a dot of a thing )

Cute aye oh and the dress is cute too

Next up a few bubs are due soon so I started knitting up some gifts only one to show at the moment

These are from the awesome knitted toys book my SIL and BIL got me for xmas ( ps Betsey if you want these tell me sooner rather than later they are a b*tch it knit well not really the knitting but the sewing up and machine sewing the insides )

Stacking/nesting boxes

 

These knitted containers are lined with ice cream container plastic ( sewn to the fabric then whip stitched into place )

 

and for the moment that is it I have 3 pairs of socks I am to knit asap and that doesn’t include the next sock club which should be in my letterbox tomorrow

Sock Yarn Swap

The Theme I received was

" Where the Elves Play"

The yarn has been beautiful dyed up with purples,blues, pinks and touches of browns and greens

My gifts are a beautiful charm bracelet with tiny leaves a beautiful piece of rose quartz and a couple of little pearls also "Alorah" a felt elf ( she likes to sing lullabies, write poetry and sip chai lattes )

The patterns recommended are Rivendell ( a seriously awesome pattern which I will knit ) and Midsummer Nights Dream which are going to be emailed as Alorah didn’t approve of them being printed off and using resources from her native forest

I am totally in LOVE thank you Hannah for such an awesome swap! 

The swap I sent was

Based on the fact my person loved green ( did some digging on Rav )

“Clover Fields”

The gifts I included were a project bag ( what a mission I had finding a nice green fabric!) on the bag is a cute wee clover leaf

I also happened to find these in my beads! talk about luck since I was going to do plain green sts markers

I dyed the yarn up as a semi solid green. The paper work I included was a pattern for “clover” socks which look rather cool