Farm Girl...

Hanging with my special horse and friend "Splash" at my parents home.

Gotta love the farm life!

Ellie...........x

Still at it...

I'm still working D's niece's beanie... and am just adding the final touches!

More (and better) piccies to come once I've sewn everything together and made it look super pretty! :o)

Ellie ........x

Get out of Town!!

Well that's exactly what Roger and I did this Easter! We hit the road on Thursday afternoon after work to head to the small township of Mudgee.

We love Mudgee and every time we visit, our time there always confirms just why we love it so much. I think I've put on about 5kgs in food and wine alone!!!! (Not even Easter eggs! Poor effort hey!? lol)

Because Mudgee is almost halfway between were Roger and I live and where Roger's Mum and sister live we thought it would be the perfect place to meet for our long weekend.

We did some winery touring, eating scrumptious food (and drinking wine of course), visiting the Farmers Markets (Ooooh I LOVE the markets there! So much cheese, olives, wine, oils... droooool!!!) and I even managed to find a cute little "Wool Shed" yarn store that sells their own home grown wool!

All in all our little "get-away" was a huge success!

No matter how far away you go from home and how beautiful it is, its always nice to come home isn't it? Ahhh, I'm relaxing at home now with some nice scented candles burning and my fav Sugarland albums playing scrolling through Blogland... Bliss! hehe

Happy Easter Bloggy friends, I hope your weekend has been spent with lots of smiles with family and friends (and choccy eggs!!!)

Ellie..........x

Malabrigo Love and Crochet Goodies...

Ahhh Malabrigo...

Now I know this yarn is the most blogged about yarn in the history of yummy yarns but let me tell you... there is a reason! This stuff is just so darn nice and squishy and yummy and Oh! It's just too good!!

I'm bustling in the nights to get some crochet beanie's whipped up for one of my bestie's niece's and for the first beanie I am using more of the gorgeous Malabrigo worsted weight (like what I used for the Little Red Beanie not too long ago).

This time I'm making the little girls beanie in a hot fuschia pink and the colour just pops! Perfect to adorn a little girls little head this winter!

(Below, Beanie # 1, still a WIP)

Because my friend D loved the last beanie I made for her she wanted another 2 made using The Dainty Daisy's shell stitch beanie pattern again, and I'm loving this pattern even more everytime I use it! It's a winner for sure - so quick, easy and effective!

So tonight I am hoping to have beanie # 1 done and # 2 in motion.

Stay tuned for finished piccies!!

How has your week been so far?

Ellie........x

Make what you would buy!

I LOVE being a crafty person and I love being able to share it with friends and people that I care about.

While out tonight for a dinner date (at the chocolate shop!!! hehe) with my good girly friend Heidi, we went into one of her favourite retail stores Witchery to browse (since we both currently cant afford a mega shopping spree lol)

Whilst scoping through the store "Ooohing and Ahhing" at all of the cute things we wished we could buy tonight she pointed out to me a gorgeous mega chunky and mega long khaki knitted scarf that she LOVES!

Much like this one...

(image from here)

Oooh it was yummy, but at a price of $79.95!!! Whoa!

I reassured Heids not to worry, there was another way to get the pretty scarf and that would be for me to make one (and at a fraction of the cost!!).

She was stoked.

So now on my ever growing "list of things to make" is Heidi's "witchery-knock-off" scarf. I can't wait to cast on!! Isn't it an awesome feeling knowing you can make garments you'd lust over in big expensive shops?! I think so!

Ellie..........x

In search of the perfect birthday card...

It's a very good friend of mines birthday coming up very soon (this week to be exact - I'm a little slow on the organisation side of things!!) and I've got her present all ready to go but I wanted to find a sweet little handmade card to go along with it.

Where else to look than the place that houses all of the great handmade things... Made It of course!!

Here is what I found from Misiu "Handmade Thingmebobs"

I'm loving the cutsie owls and the real "handmade" look it has. Too cute and perfect for my bestie. Go check the store out, you might find a neat little gift as well! :o)

Ellie.........x

Purls of Wisdom

Ah, it is so nice to be in a town (for the short term) and be able to go into a bookstore to buy books (rather than what I settle for most days and buy online!).

Yesterday Roger and I did a big stroll around Wagga checking things out, shopping and browsing and as soon as I saw the bookstore I jumped and raced in to see what I could find.

(As I've previously mentioned in other posts), some of you may know that I have a terrible habit of buying gorgeous books and never getting around to reading them, or half reading them and never finishing. Well I committed the crime yesterday of buying yet again another book but this time I am convinced that I'll use it!!

I am slowly and surely falling into a deep love with knitting and it's sad because my skills aren't that great. Never fear though, I am determined to be a master of this gorgeous craft and "Purls of Wisdom" is going to lead the way!!

I was so exited when I opened this book and took a quick "pre-purchase squiz". I haven't found a book yet that explains knitting so well like (the author) Jenny Lord does! There's so many little helpful hints, how-to's and tips that will help me overcome those knitting obstacles. She teaches the basics like how to cast on/off, how to make an i-cord, how to increase etc etc.

She also includes some cute patterns that help put into practice the learning's from the book! I'm in love with this book already and can't wait to get home to my local yarn supplier (Jellywares) and stock up on some yarns to tackle a new project with my new found knitting confidence!!

I think I'll give these little hand warmies a go now that the weather is feeling chilly!!

I hope you all have a great week, I'll be back to normal and home again this coming Saturday (I cannot wait!) Hopefully I'll have some new knitting to share with you!!

Ellie..........x

Must have patience

So some of you may be wondering... what the heck happened the Ellie's "Lady Kina" cardi?!

Well folks, despite being hugely overwhelmed and bogged down by chemistry experiment reports, tonight I decided that I needed some "down time" from study and added a couple of extra rows to my cardi.

So here's a sneak peak of the (almost finished-but not quite) cardi.

(PLEASE PLEASE excuse and ignore the grey sweater shirt I have on under the cardi, I've been hanging about in comfy clothes all day at uni and was so not bothered to change into a nice singlet that would have looked better under the cardi to take pictures in! LOL)

I'm thinking at the moment that I may have made the "collar" part of the cardi a little too big (around the neck) but I'm sure it shouldn't look too bad once it's done and sitting right.

All that is left to do now is finishing knitting the garter stitch edging and then sew up the arm seams!!! How exciting!

Not far to go!

I'm off to do some more study.

Keep smiling :o)

Ellie..........x

Hitting the study books... again!

Hey there bloggy friends, I have once again been missing my special Blogland time as I'm "on the road again" headed to another uni session slog for 2 weeks on my university campus!

I'll be studying my little heart out for the next 2 weeks starting bright and early tomorrow morning with a 4 day chemistry lab session! (secretly shaking in my boots with nervousness!!! eeek)

(pic from here)

I'll try my very best to pop in over the next 2 weeks to catch you up on some of the happenings around here but I can't promise to be too interesting and crafting (unfortunately)

:o(

Hope to see you all again soon!

Ellie ....... x