An Owl and an Angel

My mother is an imaginative creature.
She often draws onto wood and pebbles ~ seeing images in their surfaces and bringing them to life with her pencils. She drew this little owl, quickly, yesterday and gave it to me when we met for coffee:

Mum also presented me with a belated birthday gift ~ a little kneeling angel:

I found it difficult to photograph in the frame,
but I kind of like the way the reflection of my hands works in this shot:

I love them both!
Thanks Mum.
x

I've continued to work on scarves.
(Work is really complicated and challenging right now. Creating simple things is like an antidote ~ soothing and relaxing.)
I've just about finished the scarflette I wrote about in my last post (I'm planning on uploading some pictures soon) and I've been crocheting a Crocus Scarf with some cheerful, bright red wool:

I've also bought some balls of Noro sock yarn from The Wool Shack:

which are destined to become a Spring Ripple Scarf or a Wavelength Scarf. I'm really looking forward to seeing the repeats of all that beautiful colour emerge as I crochet.

Happy creating everybody.

Noro Cashmere Flavor And Japanese Crochet Motifs

The Noro Cashmere Flavor arrived yesterday morning.
I think it is absolutely exquisite:

The apricot skein is colourway number 5 and the purple skeins are colourway number 4.
(You can see what they look like knitted up if you look in Maschenkunst, the company that I purchased the yarn from. If you click on the American flag the site will be translated into English. Photos can be found in the Noro pages of both the Yarn section and the Gallery section.
Sorry ~ the site won't let me link the individual pages that show the photos, but they're gorgeous and well worth a look.)

Now I just have to decide which one I want to use to crochet the Garden Party Wrap. Maybe I'll make two!

I've also been playing with some patterns from the Japanese book Crochet Motif Item that I bought last year,
after getting inspiration from Kwoozy's lovely work,
with the idea that I'll make a scarf out of one of the patterns using some Anny Blatt mohair from my yarn stash.

This is motif number 30:

and this is motif number 32:

The motifs are made out of kitchen string, which is easy to work with, as are the clearly drawn diagrams in the pattern book. Hmmm...it might be fun, and good practice, to crochet all of the motifs with jute and put them together into a floor rug.

...oh and, incidentally, if I ever get to be a good enough knitter I would love to make a pair of Rivendell socks. Aren't they beautiful?

Happy weekend everyone.

Beautiful Yarn And A Sweet Dog

I'm doing my tax right now (erk),
consequently there hasn't been a lot of crafting happening around here.
So, in the absence of anything recent,
I thought I'd post about this beeeeeyoooooutiful wool I bought last year:

Scrumptious, isn't it?
It's a twin yarn set of handpainted millspun wool and handpainted handspun wool which I purchased from an indie one~woman Australian business called wooldancer.
I didn't have a pattern in mind when I bought it,
I just fell in love with the colours and textures and had to have it
...you know,
and I still haven't found a pattern that I want to use
so if anyone has any ideas I'd be glad to hear them.
Meanwhile, I'm using the wool as an objet d'art and displaying it on the piano which some of my less arty friends think is a little bit odd.

...and,
in other exciting and yarn related news,
I have just ordered my first~ever skeins of Noro wool.
I'm going to use them to crochet Kim Guzmann's new pattern
The Garden Party Wrap. I've bought the Noro from a store in Germany (I couldn't get it anywhere else) and I'm having it sent by seamail rather than by airmail in an attempt to be green (surface shipping saves carbon emissions...there's a really good article about this in Issue 9 of Yarn)
so I'll have to wait a while
...but I'm excited none the less.

Lastly, I'd like to introduce you all to the lovely Rocco.

I met Rocco,
who, in real life, is even more adorable than he looks,
when I was on holiday in Margaret River last year and I promised his mistress that I'd post a photo of him on the 'net.
(Sorry it's taken me so long, Leigh.)