Buttons, bags, biscuits...back to business!

I'm very happy to report that my new bamboo floor has been installed.
It's taken a bit of doing.
There's been a lot of dust swirling around,
much packing and unpacking,
a weekend spent wading about on a gritty concrete pad
but it's all over
and I love it!
It's shiny,
beautifully patterned
and it even smells nice (in a woody sort of a way.)

(The first photo best captures the real colour.)

Molly,
who's terribly timid and who's spent a lot of time hiding under the bed,
is very glad it's all over too:

Renovating has been unexpectedly time consuming but,
since the floor's been finished,
I've had more time and energy to devote to being creative
and my chevron lace cardi now boasts a sleeve:

Incidentally, here's a close up of the button necklace I'm wearing with the cardi:

I made it, stringing the buttons with fine wire, a few years ago.

I've been keeping the cardi in this gorgeous bag that I bought from the Station Street Markets out at Subiaco:

I love the applique flower, the polka dot lining and, especially, the vintage corduroy fabric ~ my mum made me a butterfly sleeved smock out of material much like it in the seventies.
When I've finished the cardigan I'm looking forward to wearing it with the bag.

I've even been baking. I made these orange and poppyseed shortbread fingers for friends who came over for morning tea:

They're moist and tasty
and my visitors left with the recipe, which is always a good thing.

Have a wonderful week everybody.
...and thanks for dropping by.
I haven't been posting a lot of late, I know, and I really appreciate that people still take the time to come and visit.
Blessings.
x

Snowflakes in the Sun

I hope everybody had a wonderful holiday.
I spent a lot of time motoring around the Western Australian countryside visiting family and eating scrumptious food. I received some truly beautiful hand crafted presents (which I'll save for another post) and gave some crochet snowflakes that I made myself:



The top snowflake is made out of 4 ply metallic thread and the following two are crocheted out of 4 ply cotton:






I sprinkled lots of glitter over them too:



Of course, in a hot, summery Australian Christmas, real snow is no where to be seen but we love our northern traditions and my snowflakes were a bit of a hit. I had lots of requests from family who wanted one of their own. Luckily, the pattern for the first snowflake is really quick and easy so I managed to crochet four after lunch on Boxing Day, in between drinking white wine, eating chocolate fondue and catching up with my cousins!
(See, easy.)
For those of you who might be interested for next Christmas, I bought the patterns, called the Miniature Snowflake Set, from Crochet Memories.

I also crocheted a snowflake dishcloth as part of a Ravelry swap:

This was also a quick, easy pattern.
The recipient, my partner mooska, said lots of lovely things about the package I sent her. Thank you!

As part of the swap, I received a gorgeous collection of goodies from the talented Joeyn. She sent me a festive, knitted Santa dishcloth, some fragrant, hand~made soap (which smells like it’s been scented with cloves…mmmmmmm…), a super~cute pudding tree ornament, some delicious home~made Christmas cake and stitch markers which she made herself (with her daughter’s assistance) out of beautiful glass beads.

Here’s a close~up of the pudding and the stitch~markers. Aren’t they pretty?

I love participating in swaps! I've received some delightful work in them, felt that my handiwork has been truly appreciated and I've made some great, creative friends.

Since Christmas, and its flurry of activity, I've given myself permission to go easy.

I've been reading, reading, reading... I'm currently enjoying Alain de Botton's excellent Status Anxiety, Pema Chodron's The Places That Scare You and Emily Rodda's Deltora Quest. Drusilla Modjeska's The Orchard, Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale and Sue Monk Kidd's The Secret Life Of Bees are waiting, stacked invitingly, on my bedside table.

I've been spending early mornings in my garden. The gardenias and honeysuckle are in blossom right now. I have little nosegays of them, along with daisies and the last of the nasturtiums, throughout my home. I adore their scent.

After months of neglect, I've picked up my Easy Daisy blanket again:

and I've been napping a lot with the cat:

who's loved the company.

I hope you all have a wonderful, restful New Year
or,
as my mother would say,
a guid new year to ane an' a'
an' mony may ye see!

Blessings.
x

No Knit Saturday and Green Thumb Sunday

Saturday was World Wide Knit In Public Day. (It says at the top of this entry that it's still Saturday but actually, here in The Land Down Under, it's late Sunday afternoon.) I hope all the knitters who visit here had a fun day. I couldn't make any meetups 'cause of work (but I told my mother about it and she took her knitting with her when she went out to coffee in the morning. Onya Mum.) I spent most of yesterday and today doing paperwork. I have a week to go before I have to submit reports and then I get some me~time back. I can't wait.

Someone around here got to relax over the weekend, though:

Sometimes I wish I could swap places with her.

Despite all the hard work, there have been some nice things happening here at Chez Inkberry. I received this gorgeous package from my Ravelry swap pal, tasknits:



Isn't the washcloth pretty?
And doesn't the variegated cotton work well with the pattern? (It's Anchor Magicline.)
I love it!

This is one of the washcloths I sent to my swap partner, another Victorian Lace facecloth from Jan Eaton's 200 Crochet Blocks:

I made a Simple Dishcloth too.

I also discovered that inkberryblue had been linked by a blogger called the crafty gardener which was flattering (thank you)
and which led me to some fabulous gardening sites, that are listed on the crafty gardener's blog.
I'm in the process of joining a community of bloggers who post about the happenings in their gardens in Green Thumb Sunday
...and I was inspired to go out and take some quick photographs in my little piece of the Earth.
I humbly present to you a few shots of the cyclamen that is sitting at my front door, flourishing in the cold nights we're currently experiencing:

I love its beautiful deep pink colour and its petals.
They remind me of butterfly wings:



I'm going to finish off with my own selection of links to gorgeous gardening posts. I hope you enjoy looking at:

• primrose designs ~ who also has a fabulous online store that sells, amongst other things, vintage buttons,


• Gayla Trail's post about a beautiful kitchen garden at You Grow Girl,


• and one of the latest blog entries by the ever inspiring Alicia Paulson.
  
  
  Happy week, everybody.
  
  
  
  

A Dishcloth, A Shrug And A Little Something For The Cat People

I've had to spend most of this weekend doing lots of paperwork for my job
*sigh*
but there's been a bit of crafting going on.
I have almost finished the Cotton Candy shrug I've been crocheting, there's just the border to go:

(I plan on taking, and posting, more detailed shots when I've finished it.)

I've also been putting together a little swap package for a cloth and soap exchange over at Ravelry, which has been fun. I won't show anything until my partner's received my parcel but here's something similar to what I've been making:

This is a simple dishcloth, which I crocheted about a month ago. I'm using it as a skin exfoliator instead ~ it works really well and it looks pretty.

I've been keeping my stress levels down by meditating as well as crafting, practising some of the techniques I've learnt at a course I'm taking at the Perth Meditation Centre. I'm being taught by Eric Harrison, the Centre's Director. Eric, who has a background in Buddhism, is calm and articulate and learned and brilliant!

...and I've had a bit of light relief from net surfing too. I came across this animation which really tickled my funny bone. It captures what it is to live with a determined cat. Enjoy!

Now, back to the paperwork...

Almost

I am tired of paperwork.
My poor neglected cat is tired of paperwork.
Here she is. She's forced herself onto my lap and insisted that I pay her attention,
after a weekend where I've done nothing but feverishly shuffle notes and type into my laptop:

...but I am nearly there.
I'm so close to resuming my life outside of work
and I am looking forward to baking,
and tending my garden,
crocheting,
doing lunch,
hanging out with my darling niece and introducing her to the fabulous North and South,
making jewellery...
(actually, I make quite a lot of jewellery and when I've organised good enough lighting to take decent photographs I'm planning on posting some pictures of pieces I've made here.)

Oh, I am looking forward to soooo many things
and if I get back to the paperwork NOW
I might even get enough done
to be able to get out to Bazaar at Fremantle Arts Centre, which I usually go to every year because it's such a smorgasbord of hand made delights.

'Tis the season to be jolly
...almost.

Ravelry and Rain

It's too overcast to take photographs right now, we've had two days of drenching rain, so I have no new pictures to share...but this old photo of Molly is cute, don't you think? Despite the lack of evidence, there has been a lot of crocheting going on here. I'm working on Mum's flower bag, adding rows of pink and mauve to my Easy Daisy blanket, and I have started crocheting a lacy wrap, more about that later.

I've been exploring Ravelry too. I received my invite a few weeks ago but I have only just gotten around to having a really good look through it. What a fantastic resource! I've been browsing through patterns for cardigans this morning. It is so easy to access information about, and people's opinions on, garments. I love it!

Rest

It has been a beautiful sunny Winter weekend.

I went out to lunch with some old school friends yesterday

(Hi Guy! Hi Nat! Hi Tanu!)

and we talked about how sacrificing sleep,

even if it is a way of extending your life outside of work,

is not a good habit to get into.
So,

this morning I allowed myself the luxury of sleeping in until 11:00 am
then dawdled over breakfast, hung out with the cat, pottered around in the garden and just enjoyed the simplicity of it all.

I love going s l o w l y.

The cyclamens at my front door


and Molly, my faithful nap and sleep~in companion.

Molly in the Morning Sunshine

Meet Molly, my funny, fiesty, much loved cat

...and please note the fabulous crocheted rag rug she's lying on!

I bought the rug, for a song, from an art market last year. It's made out of t~shirts and plastic bread bags, and was crocheted by a good woman who's devoted to recycling and gives all her proceeds to animal welfare. I don't know her name (it was sold to me by a friend of hers) but I'm really grateful to her nonetheless.

Here's a picture of the complete rug:

...and here's a detail:

I'd love to make one of these too:

in pinks,

for my bedroom

...to go with the granny blanket. =]