Rainbow Scarf

I just finished this scarf I made with my rainbow of cotton colours from Bendigo Woollen Mills. I was inspired by a picture I saw on Facebook which linked back to a pattern on Ravelry. Someone posted in the comments a link to a photo tutorial so once I saw that I decided to have a go. I saw a photo of a rainbow scarf in Russian so thought I'd make a rainbow one as well. I'm really delighted with the result, its made a beautiful scarf. I don't know if I'll ever wear it though - I just have too many scarves! But it was fun to make and I wanted to see how the links chained together like that. I used 8 ply and a 4mm hook, and I started with chains of 202 like the photo tutorial suggests, but there was an uneven amount of stitches at the end so I should have done 207 or 197 chains to begin with.

a rainbow scarf made with Australian spun cotton

the scarf is made up of chains and double crochet stitches

detail of the chained links of the rainbow scarf

the simple stitch makes a very interesting scarf
 

Happy Valentine's Day

Because Valentine's Day is on a Saturday this year, we have a full day of activities planned as a family! Here are what we've done so far. We had love heart shaped French toast with strawberries for breakfast, it was yummy! Then we made love heart cards with Thomas and wrote everyone's names on them. Then Thomas had fun cutting love hearts out of watermelon with love heart cookie cutters. We'll be making some chocolate shortbread cookies soon, we also plan on having a go at making love heart shaped fruit pies for dessert tonight. Fun! I hope you are having a good Valentine's Day with your loved ones!

love heart shaped French toast with strawberries and maple syrup

simple love heart cards for the whole family

having fun cutting love hearts out of watermelon with cookie cutters

Rainbow Triangle Bunting

I finished the bunting today, its turned out ok. It's been really hard to get a photo that shows it off well though! Here are two shots that show the colours and where its going to hang. I used the 3 round triangle pattern which is on this blog as a free pattern. I used 8 ply cotton from Bendigo and a 4mm hook. It was fun, I think I might make some more!

a rainbow of cotton colours for this triangle bunting

the bunting is to be hung on our patio

Triangle Bunting in Progress

I don't remember why I started this project, I just thought it might be nice to put up some bunting at our next party. I wanted to use the colours I had, so made a few triangles using the free pattern I've posted about before. When I made four triangles in these colours, I realised if I only had two more colours I would have a rainbow! So I have finally ordered some more yarn in teal and purple to complete the rainbow. I haven't bought yarn since Nov 2013 so it should be ok! I have soooo much yarn in my stash there is more than I could use in a life time I reckon, so buying new yarn is a bit of a luxury!


the triangle for this bunting is on this blog as a free pattern

I've started bordering the triangles in white, I will be joining them together in white also. I'm just doing a row of sc, for the corner its (2 sc ch 1 2 sc). Hopefully the finally product will look good, I think it should look ok, and I will post about it soon. Well soon after the cotton arrives from Bendigo!

Dairy-free Choc-chip Cookies

We made these chocolate chip cookies, using nuttelex instead of butter. We also used Sweet William chocolate chips so these are dairy-free. We found the choc-chip cookie recipe on the Cadbury website, and they turned out deliciously!

these cookies are dairy-free and delicious!

Doll's Purple Bikini

I made another string bikini, this time in a variegated purple, just because I'm that bored! And I thought it might look cool on my Ravelry account to have some dolly bikinis in different colours. Maybe I will do a pink one next? If you missed the pattern, I blogged about it a few days ago, there is a photo tutorial just in case that helps.


purple string bikini modelled by a Barbie doll

a trio of dolls wearing string bikinis



Outfits for a pair of dolls

With the joy of owning a new sewing machine, comes the urge to make useless things like dolly clothes! I made a top and skirt outfit twice in different material. The top has two darts in it, it fairly simple to do. I like how these turned out, although the seams are a little rough. I don't know how doll clothes makers can make such tiny seams look so neat! These are a bit rough at the back too, but I just used tiny pieces of iron on Velcro, so the clothes stay on well enough. I don't know why I'm making these clothes, they aren't good enough to give away! Maybe if I make some more I will get better at it!

outfits for a pair of Barbie dolls

Doll's Floral Skirt

Isn't this skirt cute? This is the 3rd thing I've made with my new sewing machine, and I'm rather pleased with how it turned out. I like how the pleats worked out. Its a little rough at the back, but its ok! I wish I had someone to make doll's clothes for, then I would know what to make. But my son isn't really interested in Barbie! I will just have to make whatever takes my fancy!

a cute floral skirt for a doll

My Guild is 8 years old today!

As I've mentioned before, I tend to play World of Warcraft every now and then, and have done so on and off for 10 years. When I'm not blogging or crafting you can rightly guess that's where I am, in the virtual world created by Blizzard Entertainment. A few months ago a new expansion launched and we were all very excited to get into the game and check it out.

Geminda, healer and guild leader of 8 year old guild Bloodlust of Nagrand

Well, after finally getting to the end game I've found I just don't enjoy it. I levelled up my character and got into the dungeons, and just didn't love it like I used to. I used to love healing, I got a real buzz out of keeping my fellow gamer's characters alive. And as a healer, its great to be needed without being the one, the tank, who leads the foray into the instance. But I found the healing this time around to be too stressful, so I decided to level up my hunter as that is easier. But still on my hunter as a damage dealer, I just don't enjoy the end game, although it was slightly better than on my healer. And so I'm not sure what will happen to my old guild which turns 8 years old today, which is sooo old! The players in the guild seem content to do their own thing, and there is no pressure for me to lead raids, which are larger scale adventures into dungeons.

So instead of raiding, some of us have been working on an achievement called 'Stay Classy' that will award the guild some more space in the guild bank vault. Which would be fun, as I'm finding I enjoy sorting the guild vault now. In fact that's all I've been doing lately, logging in to check the guild vault and move donated items to where others have access, or to sell what we don't need. I levelled up a goblin death knight for the achievement, now there are only a handful of characters to level before our guild has levelled every class of every race in the game, for the horde side that is.

So that's where I've been for the last few months of 2014, plugging away at my virtual characters in World of Warcraft. I may choose to level up a new character just for the fun of it, but who knows? We shall see ...