Spare Time and Some Shopping

When I have some spare time or just want to hang out on the computer I like to do these 3 things in this order:

1. Read the blogs on my bloglist and add comments - which is like a “Gill waz ‘ere” stamp


2. Play addictive time consuming games on facebook and try and beat my friends (they are usually those ones with a 1 – 3 minute time limit so I have no idea where an hour goes!!)


3. Stare in a trance at Time Machine 2 on www.etsy.com
   

I usually just have time for the first one on the list, however just the other day I skipped down to number 3 (bypassing addictive games) and did a bit of Christmas shopping. Which I can't show you in case any one I bought for is reading..... so here are a couple of other shops that I love

www.JeByJa.etsy.com has this fab mushroom made from an old record which I think is the coolest thing ever (and might have to be my next purchase!)

www.dzfantasy.etsy.com has fab fairies and mermaids (not this fairy head brooch though cos I bought it! I wear to work to brighten up my uniform and have gotten loads of compliments – big-ups to DZFantasy for that one!)

Tie Skirt, B.O. & Walks

Here is the tie skirt I made... I might even wear it out in public!

After work this evening we went for a walk at the beach and around Mount Maunganui. The walkway is wide enough for about 3 people abreast. It's a very popular spot for walkers and runners, the view is fabulous as you head from the harbour to the surf (or the other way around if you prefer, seems everyone has their own idea of the 'right' way). This evening we seemed to be overtaken by lots of runners, it is after all a great place to go for a run, no need to worry about being run over by cars or cyclists.

With so many runners passing by I got wondering. Are there runners who make sure they smell fresh before they run, or do the majority decide they'll shower afterwards? As runners passed by and I held my breath I decided that should I ever take up running out in the open I would definitely be the former, I'd be horrified to think that I had left a B.O. wake behind me :-)

Creations Galore

Well, we didn't get on the bikes, but we created so much!

Below is a brother to a new addition to the etsy shop, a mouthy mushroom. And above is a fancy dancy sparkly wrap that Andrew thinks looks like the Milky Way

I even approached the sewing maching (dum dum duuummmm) and I didn't even break it - hurray! On Saturday I bought 10 ties from an opportunity shop, unpicked them, sewed them back up and made a skirt. This is my first attempt at sewing a bit of clothing, and I'm almost impressed! I'll pop a picture on during the week. (It's on the line at the moment - I had to wash it to make sure it didn't fall apart!)

I'm tentatively thinking about having a bit of a stall at work one lunchtime. Isn't it funny, I'll go to the markets and sell on line and yet having a table at work scares the beejeezus out of me! Shame I can't have dutch courage at work!

Escape

Hurray!

It's nearly time to escape from the working week and enjoy a fabulous weekend of creativity, cycling and relaxation.

We're going to be sewing & crocheting lots for the last couple of pre-Christmas markets and we've also started to organise a cycling holiday in the South Island for the end of March, (when it's not to hot!). So it's on the bikes for some practice :-)

To go with the feeling of escape I'd like to show you some items from a fellow etsyhooker.

Here are a couple of fabulous items from http://www.juliaemily.etsy.com/

(I personally love her masks so much pop along and have a look :-) )

We had a fabulous day at the races on Saturday. We put on our glad rags, packed a yummy picnic with some bubbles and took a few dollars to have a flutter. Sunday morning came as a great reminder that number 30 SPF sun cream needs to be reapplied during the day and to do it before you put your frock on in order to get the best coverage.

I find the bra straps the hardest to place in just the right spot so that they won’t aggravate the red bits.

And so with the onset of summer down under I thought I might make something summery for both my shop and the markets. A lovely lady at work was complaining about sarongs coming undone and having to fiddle with them, so the other day and I bought a wee bag of metal suspender clips from

www.FunkeyMonkeySupplies.etsy.com to try out an idea.

I crocheted some pretty flowers and got the hot glue gun out (always a danger for me with my clumsy ways) I glued the flowers on to the clips with a button in the middle of the flower to finish it off. I thought I might try some fabric flowers as well. bluejulesews blog has a great tutorial, I’m not a good sewer, but she makes it look so easy! http://bluejulesews.blogspot.com/2009/11/tutorial-ii-fabric-flower.html The next thing is to try them out and see if they work!

Traffic

We don’t really have much traffic apart for the holiday season.
Tauranga is a city, and to become a city in New Zealand means that 20,000 people or more live there. Which in comparison to many cities around the world we are pretty small. I usually give myself 20 minutes to get anywhere in town and 30 minutes when I think it might be busy. So I don’t have much sitting in traffic time.

On November 1st using cell phones in a car had become illegal. This has posed a wee problem for me, I’ve been used to using that 20 minutes or so to catch up with friends or check with Andrew what I might need to pick up on the way home.
We are a week into the new law and I’ve found that crochet is pretty hard to do whilst moving, however is not too bad if I get a red traffic light, I've also found that the CD’s I have popped in my stacker are okay for now and then and not quite entertaining enough for 20 minutes in a row. Last week I had an audio book in my CD stacker, I’m unsure if it was a good thing or not…. the actual story was great, I couldn’t really tell you what happened on the way to work though, and I also was late starting a couple of times because I wanted to catch the end of the chapter!

I did get to make this new addition to my ArtFire shop whilst at traffic lights over 3 days this week …..


What do you do to entertain yourself in the car if you’re the one driving and you’re not allowed to be on the phone??

Shawls and Shores

This has felt like a ‘Summers here’ weekend.

We went down to the beach early on Saturday for a walk, it felt like the calm before the Christmas storm. Soon the bachs’ (holiday homes) will start to fill up and then the beach gets busier and busier.

The tempo changes, so many people on holiday gives it a real beachy vibe, it means it’s easy to relax by popping down to the beach for a walk or a drink on the way home from work.

We also popped to the hardware shop and I bought a piece of aluminum rod which we bent into a supersize hairpin (yep, I’m still excited about the hairpin lace!) And voila, I whipped up this summer shawl out of that cotton I bought the other day. I think it’ll be just the trick to keep the shoulders warm on those long summer evenings that are on their way

Highlights

5 orders this week for stuff I make from lovely workmates

Tried newly re-opened local restaurant which was fab

The sun is shinning and is supposed to be like this all weekend so that means a trip on Audrey to the beach :-)

Have successfully remembered to do the etsyhookers promo thread before I go to bed

Made 4 chokers using the paperclip for the market stall

Purchased some lovely off-white cotton to make myself a summer shawl using a bigger version of the paperclip

It's Friday afternoon and I've finished work for 2 whole days

And to round it off, here are some highlights from a fellow etsyhooker www.PixieWorx.etsy.com; a fab brolly that would add interest to an outfit all year around, and a very fun ski hat :-)

Paper Clip Lace Crochet

Today I discovered how to crochet hairpin lace.

I taught myself with the help of the most fantastic resource in the world - the internet. I found this site the easiest to follow, http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art5429.asp the pictures were very clear and allowed me to see if my picture looked like theirs (which is always a good start!)

I've used a really big paperclip and re-bent it, to turn it into a hairpin lookalike. I put the cellotape at the end just to stop the lacey bit flopping about when it got long ('flopping about' is a technical term).

I'm quite excited by the results, especially this one, which I made with pink cotton, my big Paperclip and a #4.5 crochet hook. After I did the hairpin bit (I had 32 loops on each side) I did a single chain along one edge went a bit further for a tie and turned it into a choker.

I think it is very feminine and quite victorian :-)

I get very excited when I find a way to expand my repertoire! Now I'm trying to think of all of the ways I can incorporate it into what I make, and how to make different hairpins so I can vary the size of the loops and use different yarns. I'm thinking shawls and broom sticks!